Flame: I'm really sorry for the wait, but first I was on vacation (cause I couldn't bring my comp to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon) and then I was home but left about a week later (I only had maybe a page written) to go to Fort Bragg for 2 ½ weeks, then I worked on it a little bit, but when I got ready to possibly end the chapter and post it, my Uncle passed away, so I was really sad and I couldn't even think about writing.

So I here by Dedicate this chapter to my Uncle: Larry Perry, and all Uncle Larry's family and friends.

Translations:

Kaji – Fire

Neko – Cat

Hanyo – Half-demon

Iie - No

Bachan - Aunt

Kora! – Hey!

Nee-chan – Older sister

Ototo-chan – Younger brother

Onii-san – Older brother

Haha-ue – Mother

Chichi-ue - Father

Recap:

"Lady Kikyou! Are you all right! What happened?" Aiko asked acting worried for Kikyo when she was really worried about Kikyo finding the demons that were hiding in her secret tunnels and about what the blast did to the children.

Chapter 7:

"Of course I'm alright! Why wouldn't I be? It takes more than just a little aura explosion to keep me off my feet for long!" Kikyo said nastily using her anger to cover up the pain she felt at having the wind knocked out of her and being thrown rather violently to the ground. 'Why who do those brats think they are! Using my own aura against me! I can sort of see Kagome feeling for those MONSTERS but the monk-in-training? And the young Demon Slayer? Especially the Demon Slayer, she should be killing the MONSTERS not HELPING them! Why do they defy me?' Kikyo thought. "Did you know that these children have befriended demons and are attempting to provide shelter for them in your own home?" Kikyo asked Aiko.

"Why yes I have. Seeing as they never attempted to hide the fact, and even asked me if they could stay, I agreed to let them stay and I don't mind that they live here." Aiko responded as reasonably pleasant as possible.

"Aiko-san! Why would you even consider consenting to provide even the tiniest scrap of food for these MONSTERS? They would rather kill you than accept your misplaced and ill-guided sense of hospitality." Kikyo said rather harshly.

"I have no idea what your talking about Lady Kikyo, all the young children that live here are kind and nice and have shown not even the least bit of hostility unless they were protecting themselves when Kagome first brought them to me to be treated for medical reasons; or if they were protecting my daughter, her friends and family, or in one case the whole village. Yes I know what your thinking, 'why would' as you put it 'monsters protect a village that would sooner kick them out than accept that they needed help from the demons?' well here's your answer: its because Kagome befriended them, accepted them as they are, and made them part of her family." Aiko defended the young demons in her family, making Kikyo wonder if she was not possessed by a demon, as it was the only explanation that she could come up with for the woman's behavior.

"Why would you in your right mind consent to allow DEMONS of all creatures into your home?"

"Why you ask? Well it is really quite simple really, they are my daughter's friends and since they mean no harm why would I deny my daughter friends? Especially if those friends care enough to put their well being at risk for her? I am afraid that you are mistaken. You seem to believe that the only good demons are dead demons but that is not true at all! I'm sure that you have only come across bad demons in your travels but seeing that Kagome and her friends were able to use your aura against you, you must have some tiny hidden area in you that holds only anger. Due to that, Kagome and her friend's aura's used that area in you against you, and usually you would have only flinched but since you had put Kagome into a protective/defensive mood with what you had said prior to her aura's, for lack of a better word, explosion it was magnified who knows how many times. It was at least 10 times stronger than normal." Aiko informed Kikyo but she kept the specifics of how it worked, and how powerful it could actually get, to her self only sharing what she had been told that she could share. 'As it is, the only time Kagome has been able to use an aura against someone else when she is getting protective of her friends, especially her demonic friends.'

"Well I can't have demons in my village so I'm afraid that they will have to leave." Kikyo said snidely correctly thinking that at least some of the villagers would agree with her.

"What do you suggest? That we leave too? Because let me tell you, those children are not, I repeat not, going to be abandoned out in the forest somewhere! If you force them to leave then we will have to leave also." Aiko told Kikyo stubbornly.

"But what about the village? You are the best seamstress that the village has! Even people in other villages come and ask you to make their festival kimonos!" Kikyo tried to reason with Aiko, truly worried about what would happen if she and her family were to leave the village.

"Well I guess that either you ignore the fact that these children are demons and treat them as if they were human children; or, you can cast them out. But be warned, if you choose to cast them out, both my family and I will go with them, and I'll bet that Sango and Miroku will want to come with us." Aiko said delivering her ultimatum.

"What person, or child for that matter, in their right mind would go and live out in the wilderness away from any village just because some demons were cast out of the village were they were once residing? Why would you go and risk your life? Your children's life? And for what? Some demon whelps that have no real reason to live?" Kikyo said trying to appeal to the self-preservation side of Aiko.

Kagome who had been quiet and content to see if her mother could make Kikyo see true reason, not her own twisted version that kept her from seeing the good demons as well as the bad, finally spoke up. "Kikyo-san! It is our choice as to wither we want to go and 'live in the wilderness' as you put it or to even go and start our own village! It is not for you to choose but for us to! You have no right to condemn my friends! They have proved time and time again that they are more than trustworthy and should be allowed to stay in the village, without people whispering about them, if they choose to! Kaede-sama agrees with me!"

And here Kikyo cut in, "KAEDE! Kaede! Have you not noticed that there are things that she cant or wont teach you? It is because her power is waning!" at Kagome's doubtful look Kikyo continued. "It is true that when your power is discovered it is weak, and that it steadily grows stronger as you grow older, but once you reach the height of your capabilities your power stays the same: neither growing stronger or weaker for a time, but once you start aging more, your power steadily decreases."

"Kikyo-san why do you hate your Bachan so much?" Kagome asked and ignoring everyone's startled looks and continued. "Don't try to deny it, because I can sense the hatred in your aura when you think about her! And I want to know why?"

"Whatever gave you that impression? I don't hate my Bachan; I hate the thought of my powers waning! And I hate the fact that her powers are already waning and then this village will no longer have its miko!" Kikyo said trying to cover up the true reason for the darkness Bloch in her aura when she thought of her aunt.

When Kikyo was finished ranting Aiko, Miroku, and Sango's eyes were filled with confusion, as were their auras; but Kagome's eyes widened with understanding. "You hate the thought of being bound to this village, don't you?" a sickly voice asked from the doorway.

Everyone gasped when they realized who had spoken, but it was Aiko who spoke, "Sota? What are you doing out of bed? If you don't rest then it will take longer for you to get better so you can go and play again!"

But Sota shakily walked out the doorway of his home, down the few steps, continued past his mother, and coming to stand between his formidable older sisters, and said "its true isn't it? You just don't want to admit it to others, let alown your self! Kagome-nee-chan can tell if a demon is good or not! Unlike you who can only tell if its demonic, and can barely sense if its peaceful or not!" Sota continued.

"How dare you speak to me like that! I demand the respect that I deserve! Before I left I sacrificed everything for this village! And how do they repay me? By telling me, ME, who had protected this village since I completed my training and allowing my Bachan to focus on training the next group of Miko's, that I should get out and learn self control! But of course they said it politely: 'why don't you travel a bit, learn what all you can about your miko powers?' well of course I had to comply, even my own Bachan agreed with them!" Kikyo ranted. "But you even a mere child are not allowed to talk to me like that! I deserve respect and I demand my do share! So you had better cease speaking to me like you are my better, because I have no betters! Especially not sickly little brats!" Kikyo yelled.

"Kora! How dare you speak like that to our sickly ototo-chan!" Kagome and Sango both yelled at the same time.

"I can speak to anyone anyway I like! I am your better and you must listen to me! And I will tell you this one last time before I do it myself: banish those demons from your home and this village or I will be forced to purify them in your own home!" Kikyo demanded.

"Kagome-nee-chan would never allow you to purify part of our family! Nor would Haha-ue make any one in our family leave our home or our village! If they want to leave then that's their choice, but if they want to live here then we let them we even invite them to live in our home! And after a while they stop being friends and become family!" Sota said confidently. "If Chichi-ue were still alive he would agree that they are a part of our family and he would fight you every step of the way if you tried to purify them!"

"Oh, is that so? Are you sure about that?" Kikyo asked in a sly 'I-know-something-that-you-don't-know' kind of tone.

"Hai! Sango-nee-chan and Miroku-onii-san would fight you too! They are our family and we won't let anything happen to them!" Sota said sounding so certain that if Kikyo hadn't believed him before then she would now.

"Even if your older siblings fight me, I will win for they are only children and I will purify those demons. There is no stopping me. You would be fighting a useless battle; I am stronger, older, and more experienced, you have no hope of beating me." Kikyo said not willing to admit that she might be bargaining for a fight that she couldn't win. "Now let me past before you force me to hurt you."

"Iie." Kagome said standing her ground.

"What did you say?" Kikyo asked her voice dangerously soft.

"She said 'Iie'." Sango said her voice as determined as Kagome's and as soft as Kikyo's.

"I heard what she said, I wanted to know why she defies me."

"Because Kagome is purer than you ever were or can be." Miroku said his voice calm but had a determined look in his eye.

"That is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard, she is just a child!" Kikyo said insulted.

"Kagome-nee-chan is stronger than she looks! I have seen her pick up a bolder with just her powers and use it to frighten away the village children when she was trying to help a Kaji Neko Hanyo who was hurt!" Sota defended his older sister.

"Why would she help a Hanyo? Those half-breeds are worse than full demons! Why on earth would anyone even consider considering helping those things!" Kikyo asked disgusted. "They are emotionally unstable and they never use the same trick twice!"

"Flame wasn't like that! She's my friend and I won't have you talking about her that way!" Kagome said, defending her friend.

"Who in their right mind would name their child, even if that child is a half-breed, 'Flame'?" Kikyo asked.

"Someone royal!" Souta shouted before anyone could stop him.

"Sota! Hush! You know that she hates it when people know that!" Kagome hissed in Sota's ear.

"Did you say royal?" Kikyo asked. "You made friends with a royal youkai? Why this is perfect! You can take me there saying that you wanted the youkai to meet me and since it trusts you it will let us in and then we can purify them all!" Kikyo said excitedly. "What do you say to that?"

"Iie, IIE I WONT DO IT! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! I WON'T LET YOU!" Kagome screamed. She screamed so loud that Inuyasha, Shippo, Kilala and her kittens heard it. Inuyasha who was closest to the entrance of the hut strained his ears to try and hear what the girl was refusing to do, and what he heard next shocked him, he heard a distant roar (AN: think of Kilala after she transforms.) and then it was quiet outside, when he couldn't hear anything, he assumed that they were looking towards where the roar had come from. (AN: I had to bring Inu, Shippo, and Kilala, back in somewhere. --')

Out Side

As the being that captured everyone's attention came into view; Kikyo gasped, Miroku, Sango, and Aiko looked on in Awe, Kagome stood smiling, there in all their fiery glory were 4 giant Kaji Neko's flying through the air towards them. But it was the neko in the very front that drew their attention. Its coat was blood red, with black on its ears, paws and tail. (AN: think Kilala with a red coat instead of cream.) When the 4 cats landed, the one that had been leading suddenly transformed into a girl with blood red cat ears and tail, claws, fangs, and had blue cat eyes.

- - - - - - - - -
I think that I'll end it here. It's been a long day; and I gotta finish my homework.

Ja,

Flame