After the Battle

Chapter 8: Adjusting

Disclaimer: .ahsayunI nwo t'nod I - read this way

Kei awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and warm. Her bed seemed firmer than usual, which puzzled her slightly. There was a bright light shining in her face. Maybe she had fallen asleep reading a book. She slowly opened her eyes, and blinked a few times. There next to her was a man with white hair, a man with black hair, a woman, and her mother. She smiled sleepily and closed her eyes again.

It took Kei a few moments to process what she had just seen, but when it hit her, she sat up straight, fully alert, and looked around her again. Slowly it started to come back to her... the 15th birthday party, going through the well and ending up in Feudal Japan where her father and mother's friends lived.

She was just getting ready to settle down and sleep longer when she saw the others starting to stir. Must be time to wake up she thought to herself and yawned sleepily. The next thing she knew, her mother's long arms were wrapped around her shoulders.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Kagome asked, smiling as she squeezed Kei's shoulders.

"Like the dead." Replied Kei, and then returned the smile.

Kei always wondered why her mother could be so optimistic all the time. Her life certainly hadn't been easy, especially with having a child fresh out of high school while thinking the father was dead.

Even if Kagome hadn't thought Inuyasha was dead it still would have been nearly impossible to raise a Kei with a father in the picture. Inuyasha was half demon and from the past. That was sure to cause a stir if he was seen in modern Tokyo...

Kei sighed, and looked at the morning sky. It looked like it was going to be a hot day, and the sky was a beautiful pure blue.

"It never gets this blue back home." whispered Kei to herself.

"I agree." said a voice on her shoulder.

Kei flipped around in surprise to see her mother sitting behind her, also gazing into the sky. She had forgotten she was sitting there.

"What were you thinking about just then?" Kagome said softly, putting an arm around her daughter. "You had a look of deep thought."

Kei smiled warmly.

"I was just thinking about how much things have changed for me since yesterday. I mean, I would have never believed a word you were saying yesterday, but now... Everything's just so... different." She sighed and looked back at her mother.

Kagome smiled again, and then looked around at the rest of her sleeping comrades.

"I'm really glad you talked me into coming back. I mean... I thought he... was dead." Tears started to fill her eyes, and Kei gave her a sympathetic look.

"I'm glad you showed me."

The midmorning sun was beating down on the group as they sat around, reminiscing about the past.

Kagome was leaning on a rock, Kei was sitting by Sango and Miroku, and Inuyasha was over by a small creek. Kagome kept throwing glances at him that seemed to invite him next to her, but he either didn't take the hint or didn't want to. Kei yawned, the warmth of the sun making her sleepy. The group was in a deep conversation about the past, and Kei couldn't help but admit she was lost.

"So you got Naraku? Was it easy?" asked Kagome curiously.

Sango smiled and shook her head slowly.

"You've got to be kidding. You remember Naraku, right? We waited for the opportune moment, and when it finally arrived... Well... It was amazing. It was about 2 years after you left, and Inuyasha was still all angry and depressed about it." After that comment Inuyasha "feh'd" from his place by the creek.

"You know you missed Kagome, Inuyasha. Anyways, we decided that we should go after Naraku right away. Luckily for us the place we were staying at was only a few feet from where his castle was hidden by the border, so it took us only a few minutes before we arrived at his gates. I don't know why, but his guard was totally down. We had easily cornered him."

"I thought you said it wasn't an easy battle." Kagome questioned, confused.

"Oh, I didn't say it was easy did I? The battle lasted for about 5 hours even though he was off guard. I shudder to think what would have happened if he was prepared for us..." Sango trailed off, and then looked to Miroku, who nodded solemnly.

"The outcome wouldn't have been the same, which is for sure." Inuyasha said gruffly. His comment was followed by a moment of silence, and Kei looked over to Kagome, who had a sick look in her eyes.

"Do you think that anyone could have died?" Asked Kei, wondering what kind of person Naraku was, or had been.

Sango turned Kei, though she was really addressing Kagome.

"The possibility has haunted me for some time now. In fact, we almost were killed. Miroku suffered the most from us, and that is the reason I returned to the village to care for him in his time of need. The good part of the battle was that his air rip left him."

After that last sentence Kagome jumped up in shock.

"Miroku, your air rip is gone? Wow, I totally forgot about that!" She rushed to his side and examined his right hand.

(Okay, I can't remember which hand his air rip is in, sue me. Or write me a review and correct me if I'm wrong...)

"It's totally gone!" She exclaimed happily.

Miroku smiled at her, and then turned to face Sango.

"I don't think I could ever thank you enough for what you did for me. Without you, I would have died, lovely Lady Sango." He smiled his cocky grin at Sango, and she raised a hand to smack him, but thought it over and slowly lowered it.

Kagome turned her head to look at Inuyasha, who was still keeping quiet and acting strange.

"Where were you when Sango and Miroku went to the village?" She asked curiously. He mumbled something incoherent, so Kagome looked toward Sango for an answer. She just shrugged.

"I really don't know. We invited Inuyasha to the village with us, but he said he had other things to take care of so we just let him be... He defiantly wasn't with us."

Kagome got up and went over to kneel next to Inuyasha.

"Well... where were you?" She asked, leaning over to peer in his face, a cheery smile across her face. Kei could tell she didn't want him looking all depressed. She knew her mother well enough to know that she couldn't stand people being sad and always went out of her way to cheer them up. Inuyasha huffed, and no one could miss the blush starting to form across his face.

"Sango and Miroku gave me the Shikon jewel for my part in defeating Naraku. I used it after they left..." he trailed off.

"For what?" pestered Kagome, smiling brightly. Inuyasha was clearly touchy about this subject. Kei wondered what he wasn't telling everyone. From the stories her mother had told her late at night about her father, he clearly wasn't normally like this. Something was defiantly different. Kei wondered if her mother knew.

Inuyasha huffed once more, and then looked at the ground.

"If you really must know, I used it to bring Kikyou back to life."

A/N: w00! Chapter done! I love cliffies, don't you? Mwahahaha. Sorry for the late update, I got really really lazy. To make up for that, this is a slightly longer chapter.

Shout outs later. I love you reviewers! Keep 'em rolling!