Start Part II.

A Father's Embrace

Chapter Fourteen

A New Quest

Panting, struggling to breathe, not willing to give up. Kagome broke free from Inuyasha's forest, sprinting across the small clearing. So close to the well, yet so far away. Only one thing could stop her from reaching the portal to the future.

And he had caught her.

He slammed into her, sending her crashing into the ground. He landed on her back, pinning her beneath him. Her body was filled with pain, physical and emotional. She was confused, frightened, terrified. What had happened? What was going on? She coughed, unable to breathe beneath the added weight. She suddenly felt her head being jerked back as he balled a wad of her hair in his fist.

"Stupid wench. Did you think you could outrun me? Well? Did you?" His deep voice was soft, but mocking.

She tried to speak, but couldn't. Her oxygen-deprived lungs screamed out for air. She felt herself going numb, felt the darkness cave in around her. She was on the brink of passing out. But that was when she noticed it. The tingle of the large fragment of the Shikon jewel. So close, just above her back. She could sense the orb being tainted with his evil.

Naraku.

She had to fight. She couldn't give in to him. She had to get away. A boiling energy rose up within her. She gathered all the energy she had, allowing her instincts to take over. Her body began to glow, a pink aura surrounding her. She gritted her teeth, eyes were clenched shut, fists gripping the blades of grass in her palms. And she snapped.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Her aura exploded in a blinding white light. She could feel the pressure on her back suddenly give way as he was propelled back by her purifying aura. Then, as quickly as it had manifested, the light diminished, leaving a nearly unconscious Kagome lying on the ground next to the well. She gathered her strength, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. Everything seemed to be spinning around her. Sapped of all her energy, her arms and legs felt like they would give out. But she pushed herself onward.

She crawled to the well, slapping each hand onto the lip of the structure one at a time. She pulled herself upright, leaning against the wooden planks, still on her knees. She cast a glance backwards. Her eyes fell on the prone figure laying on the ground nearly forty feet away. The silver hair, white shirt and red hakama pants that belonged to Inuyasha. But she knew it wasn't him. It was Naraku, and he had taken the appearance of the inu-hanyo to trick her, just as he had done to Kikyo fifty-four years ago.

This night, that had started out like a fairytale come true, had twisted itself into a vile nightmare. The details were still muddled, confusing, uncertain. But whatever had happened, it was too late to fix. She could sense the jewel, purified by her aura. It was untainted… but only for the moment. The darkness within the orb was slowly growing stronger with each passing second.

She was too weak. Obviously, she couldn't even destroy Naraku while she was at full strength. Otherwise, he'd have died during what she had believed to have been the final battle. And now…? If she stayed to fight, she would surely die. She couldn't do anything to stop him from corrupting the jewel. Even while unconscious, his miasma was vilifying the artifact. The majority of the Shikon no Tama was lost to her. There was nothing she could do.

Turning away from the evil hanyo, she pulled herself onto the edge of the well. Too weak to sit up, she laid her stomach on the ledge. She was no longer safe here in this era. She didn't even have Inuyasha to protect her anymore. Her only chance to survive was to escape down the well, return to the future where Naraku couldn't get her, and forget about the past. Move on with her life. Be a normal girl again. Hang out with her friends and finish school. In the end, she knew that things would turn out okay. After all, Naraku didn't exist in the future.

With one final push, she let herself tumble into the well, and allowed the time slip to consume her.

The crowing of the roosters tugged Kagome from her sleep. The warm sunlight shining through the open window pushed its way through her eyelids. Releasing a yawn, she turned over, pulling her watch from the outer pocket of her bag. Seven thirty-four. With a groan, she rolled back under the blanket.

"Good morning, Kagome-chan," beamed the yokai slayer as she poured a cup of tea. "Did you sleep well?"

"Meh…" came the muffled reply. "Too early… still sleepy…" Another loud crowing stole the last remaining threads of sleep from the woman. Giving up, Kagome threw the blanket off of her, and unwillingly sat up to welcome the day.

"Morning, mama," Maiki drawled with a wide yawn, revealing a set of canines.

"What's the matter, Maiki-chan?" Sachiko quipped with a beaming smile. The girl had taken up the habit of using the same honorific she heard Sango using for Kagome. "Didn't you get enough sleep last night?" she asked with a giggle.

"Heh. Not with all the noise outside."

"Noise?" the younger girl wondered.

"I didn't hear any noise," Kazuki snorted.

"And you most likely wouldn't have," corrected Miroku as he gave Takara a bowl of porridge. "At least, not as well as Maiki-san. Now that her yokai abilities have emerged, her hearing is much better than a human's."

Kazuki 'hmphed' and turned his head to scowl at the far wall, arms crossed over his chest. 'What a brat,' thought Maiki as she watched the boy. 'And he's supposed to be only a year younger than me. Given this era, one would think that someone his age would act a little more maturely.'

"So, Kagome-chan," Sango piped up, attempting to change the subject. "How long are you planning on staying here?"

A studious look overcame Kagome's face as she thought over the question before answering. "Well, I thought about going back today, but--"

"But I can't go back looking like this!" Maiki interrupted frantically. "I look like a freak! People will want to kidnap me and put me in some sort of cage and run all sorts of experiments on me like a lab rat!"

Sango and Miroku exchanged worried looks at the teenager's outburst. Kazuki rolled his eyes while Sachiko wore a confused expression. Takara stopped eating for a moment, alerted by the anxiety in Maiki's voice. Kagome sighed, a look of defeat on her face.

"Don't worry, Maiki. We aren't going back to the future era yet," Kagome reassured. "We have to figure a way to disguise your features before we return."

"What about the Shikon shard?" the teenage girl suggested, catching everyone's interest. "You said you used it before, mama. Can you do it again? Put it back in my body and make me human again?"

Kagome shook her head 'no'. "It won't work. It would only make it worse now."

Miroku's eyes suddenly lit up as the realization hit him. "That's right. Her yoki has been released already. If the shard was used on her, it would only become tainted by her yoki and force her to transform into a full-blooded yokai again."

"You're right, Miroku," confirmed Sango. "It wouldn't matter how pure the shard was. It would still become tainted."

Maiki gazed dejectedly into the small fire. "So now what do I do?"

"We need to find a stone that can mask your yoki and enchant it with a spell that will hide your yokai features," Kagome answered almost monotonously.

"Ah! You mean a mamori-ishi," replied the monk, earning a nod from Kagome.

"The trouble with that is that I'm not sure if we'll even be able to obtain one," the younger mother stated. "And even if we did, I'm not sure that a spell can be placed on an already magical item." The room grew uncomfortably silent at Kagome's doubt.

"But we'll never know if we don't try!" Sango retorted, slamming her right fist into the open palm of her left. "I say we go searching for one of these stones! It'll be like old times!"

"I agree," grinned the slayer's husband. "We can't give up so easily, now can we? Besides, the Kagome-sama I know wouldn't lose hope so quickly, now would she?" he said with a wink.

Kagome's eyes traveled between the monk and the exterminator. Uncertainty still clouded her mind. 'I have to do this for Maiki. I owe her a normal life, after all the secrets I've hidden from her. But… somewhere out there, I just know Naraku is waiting for me. It's only been seventeen years. He patiently waited fifty years for the Shikon jewel after Kikyo's death. Now he's got almost the entire gem. I can't bring Miroku and Sango-chan into this…'

She sighed, taking in the warm smiles of her friends. Glancing at Maiki, seeing the unhappiness written all over the teenager's face, she made up her mind. 'Well, this isn't much different than when we faced off against Naraku all those years ago. With the exception that Inuyasha isn't with us anymore. But maybe… maybe we won't run into Naraku. It'll be easy. We'll head to the northeast, find the mamori-ishi and come back. A few weeks at most. I think... I think I can do this.'

"Okay," Kagome finally stated, breaking the silence and earning wide grins from Miroku and Sango. Maiki looked up from the fire, looking into her mother's eyes. A shimmer of hope glimmered in the teenage girl's golden orbs. Kagome offered her daughter a reassuring smile. No matter what it took, she would make things right for her daughter.

"So, when are you leaving?" Kazuki inquired half-heartedly.

"Heh! Are you that anxious to get rid of me?" demanded Maiki. She was very irritable due to the lack of sleep and the sudden changes she had experienced the prior day.

The teenage boy glared at her. "What if I am? You'll only attract trouble anyway. You already have," he stated, referring to the snake yokai from two nights ago.

"Kazuki?" Sango called her son in an overly pleasant voice.

"Yes?"

"I think you're getting a little rusty with your training. I think it would be wise for you to come with us! Get some more practice with Akkiwareru. Don't you think so too, Miroku?"

The monk grinned. "I think that's a wonderful idea, Sango."

Kazuki's chin nearly hit the ground. "That's not fair! Why do I have to go with you to look for some dumb rock for that stupid mutt!"

Maiki narrowed her eyes at the boy. "Y'know, Kazuki, I'm practically healed now. I'd watch what I say if I were you."

"If you were me, I'd kill myself."

"That is enough!" Sango's voice boomed over the bickering teens, causing Takara to start wailing uncontrollably. Miroku pulled the toddler into his lap, attempting to calm the child. Kirara stirred from her nap, alerted by her mistress's distress. The yokai slayer shot Kazuki a stern look, warning him not to protest any further. "You are coming with us, whether you like it or not! You obviously have a lot more to learn before your training is even near completion!"

The boy remained quiet, knowing not to cross his mother further. Maiki wasn't even the focus of Sango's wrath and she, too, quieted down, erasing all hostile expressions from her face. She made a mental note to never piss off the yokai slayer.

Mamori-ishi (mamori ishi) - "mamori" protect, "ishi" stone; a stone that is able to conceal the yoki or jyaki of a yokai.

The mamori-ishi is based on an item that appears in episodes not yet aired in the US (called a furyouheki). I will leave the details about the furyouheki blank, so as not to spoil the storyline of the manga/anime. Such information is not important to this fic, anyhow.

A/N: I had started to write this chapter once, and hated how the flashback scene was unfolding. So I rewrote much of it, and I like this version so much better than my first attempt. I haven't deleted the original version yet, and I think I will save it to post as a "deleted scene" later on. I won't post it right away, as there is some info in the original flashback scene that I didn't want to be revealed so early in the story. (Yes, this is still very early in the story... can you imagine how long this fic will eventually turn out!. :p) So, when I feel the time is right, I will post the first draft of this chapter.