Disclaimer: Neither Inuyasha nor YYH is mine

Chapter 14: A Kiss to Awaken

"Sesshoumaru-sama, Youko-sama, we will be arriving soon." The prince of the Ice clan, Shinji, lead them to where the spring of Ice was, the spring where the Koori no Ha-Bu grew. Youko, who was silently following, felt an endless tugging in his heart, as though telling him not to continue any longer... why was he feeling this way?

Images of Kagome surfaced in his mind, images of her sweat glisten features struggling to purify the poison. She could never win against it, it was too strong for both ningens and youkais, it was a miracle that she could battle it for this long.

He did not want to leave, he wanted to be the one who stayed by her side, watching her, taking care of her. But alas, he was the one who created all this mess, it was his responsibility to take care of it, especially when her life was in line. Oh how he envied Kuronue right now, how he wished that he could come along, he hated to be with the ice berg of all the people.

For centuries they were rivals, rivals and companion. They fought for things like power, knowledge, appearances, hell they even fought on the silkiness of their hairs, which ended with Youko s winner of course, since he was a Kitsune, a very vain one at that. They were both very alike, hairs, eyes and their taste in clothing, therefore, many youkais loved to compare them.

Youko could remember every single time they competed like it happened just yesterday. There was one when they were young pups of 14 youkai years. Youko had a crush on this particular Inu youkai, but unfortunately enough, she liked Sesshoumaru. And guess what eh did? He fucked the girl before throwing her away like he always did, like some common whore.

Youko had been furious then, he was so angry that even Kuronue had a rough time trying to calm him down. But in this memory, there was a happy ending. Youko found out that after she was dumped, she went groveling for his attention. It was then that he realized, Sesshoumaru had purposely done it to show him her true self, a real bitch. That was also when the three of them vowed never to take a mate unless all of them approved the female.

Now, the three of them desired the same woman. There was no need for him to speak it out loud, he could clearly see it in his eyes that he too, wanted Kagome. He had no idea why was he denying it, but he could vaguely guess, it was most probably his pride about taking a ningen as mate or the fear of rejection. He and Kuronue too had doubts about taking a ningen as mate.

Her short lifespan.

After much discussion about it, they decided to believe that the Shikon no tama would most likely went back to her body and prolonged her life. It was a large risk, that they understood, but what choice do they have? They did not want to give up on her!

Suddenly, a high pitch screeching was heard. Youko's hands went to his abused Fluffy appendage, wincing at the loudness and its high frequency. 'Youko!' he heard his name being called through a telepathic link. No mistake! It was Kuronue! "Damn it, he's in trouble!" Youko cursed and pivoted to dash back when a blue blur appeared in front of him, blocking his way.

It was Shinji.

Youko hit his own palm, cracking his knuckles, "I should've known..." he spat, reaching for his rose. Shinji wasted no time in attacking him with youki filled snowballs, his eyes void of emotions. 'Why didn't I realize it sooner? They were being controlled' he admonished himself for being careless while easily dodging the snowballs.

While he was busily 'taking care' of Shinji, Sesshoumaru was scanning the area with his sharp golden eyes. They were in the part of the mountain where snow were scarce and lush grasses and trees filling the place. He gazed around... trees... grasses... puddle... grasses... wait, rewind back, puddle?

A smirk graced his lips as he spotted a plant partially submerged in the puddle. A plant with green stems spreading out and little snow-like Fluffy balls attached to them. The plant was about half a foot, barely visible for a normal person to see, but then again, he was no normal person.

Quickly he made his way to the Koori no Ha-Bu and grabbed it out of the freezing water fast. He kept it in his haori as Youko finished his opponent with a sharp knock by the hand, rendering him unconscious. "What are you standing there for Fluffy? Kuronue and Kagome are in grave danger!" he yelled before rushing back to the Ice village with Sesshoumaru by his side.

They were greeted by a massacre, heaps of the Ice apparition and the Koorimes' dead bodies lying about, staining the pure white snow. A feeling of dread rose in Youko as he scanned through the bodies, pleading to whatever Gods out there that neither Kuronue nor Kagome was one of them.

A sudden splitting sound of the wind alarmed them. They jerked their heads to the side just nicely as a purifying arrow wheezed past the space in between them. There in the middle of the massacre, stood Kagome wearing Sesshoumaru's haori with a katana on her hip, a bow was in her right hand while the other was pulling another arrow out of the quiver.

"Kagome! What are you WAH-" Youko yelped when he was being pulled back by the collar, barely dodging the arrow that flew past him. "That's not her you fool." Sesshoumaru flung him a few feet away before leaping out of the arrow's way.

Just then, a large swarm of Ice apparitions lunged forward, their eyes blank, their hands froze into an ice sword. Sesshoumaru and Youko growled in annoyance, shoving them away with swings of whips. Sesshoumaru cursed when they refused to stay still.

"Impudent fools!" he snarled and slashed through their bodies with his acid whip, his eyes constantly going to Kagome who was aiming her arrow at him. Being careful not to swing his whip to her direction, he killed them one by one.

Then he caught sight of Kagome releasing her arrow. He easily dodged it by maneuvering himself to the side. It did not end there though, the arrow stabbed itself into the crimson snow...

BAM!

And a loud explosion occurred.

"Cih!" Youko made his way out of the falling snow in a quick dash. Sesshoumaru appeared by his side a second later, calmly watching as tidbits of the crimson snow fell onto the ice apparitions, rendering them immobile as the purifying aura sizzled into their skin like acid.

"That got to hurt like..." Youko hissed, he did not want to think of it. Both he and Sesshoumaru fixed their eyes on the Kagome who was pulling out another arrow from the quiver. "Hey Sesshoumaru, what did you do to her?" Youko spoke lowly as he braced himself to escape when she released that freaking scary arrow.

"She released her dormant power." Sesshoumaru replied, watching as the Ice apparitions stumbled to them with burn marks all over their pathetic bodies. Youko hissed as he readied his rose whip, "Hate to think what'll happen if she could manipulate them to her will." His keen pupils caught Kagome notching her arrow and releasing it at them without a second thought, her eyes dull black.

Youko leapt away from the blast again, staring at her elegant form. It saddened him that she was unable to fight the spell, but then again, she was poisoned and was unconscious, it could not be helped.

"Kagome! Stop this!" Youko yelled while he whipped an ice apparition away. "Sesshoumaru!" that one word spoke of many things, Sesshoumaru nodded as Youko leapt away from the Inu youkai to inspect the area for any suspicious youkai.

Sesshoumaru did not bother to test the air, what good would it be when all that entered his nose were the scent of blood and death?

As he finished the leftover enemies with a swipe of his youki whip, he caught something from the corner of his eyes. He whirled his head, causing his eyes to widen by a fraction. That pale white child... "Youko!" he let out a guttural growl, fury seeping into his being, he should have known it, Naraku.

Youko too growled when he spotted Kanna standing there without a care to the world. He could smell nothing nor sense her youki, she must be a void youkai, but why was she attacking them? Void youkais were known to be reserved and quiet, it was very rare for them to be seen, even rarer for them to actually attack.

He stood a few feet before the girl, "State who you work under." He growled, the coward, hiding behind a child and using her to do his dirty work. He would not believe that this barely 10 youkai years child doing such vile things.

"Sesshoumaru kill Kagura..." she murmured emotionlessly, "Kill the three Lords, kill Kagome..." with that, she stepped back and disappeared.

As though the action was a command, a dark figure came out from the back of a pine tree, a figure that clashed on the color of the surrounding. Youko could have swore that his heart stopped beating right then, it could not be real, he refused to believe it, how could he lost to those small fries?

Yet deep in back of his hear, he knew that it was real, he was expecting it... dreading for it. When he first saw Kagome in the middle of the massacre, no, when he first heart his screech for help, he knew that he had fallen.

Now there he was, standing there with his favorite weapon, the scythe. It was the same scythe that he and Sesshoumaru made for him during their younger time, the scythe that they made with their own hands.

- Flashback –

12 youkai years Kuronue was sitting on a boulder, watching lazily at the scene he was bestowed. Before him were his two friends, Youko and Sesshoumaru, and they were fighting over some silly stuff... what was it again?

"That apple is mine Fluffmeister!" Youko shouted. Oh yes, the apple that was currently in his hand. It was the last apple from all the trees in the forest... 'How did it happen again?' Kuronue wondered.

(A/N: Cute name Fluffmeister from xBankotsu's Girlx! THANK YOU FOR THE CUTE NAME! Oh and the katana is not Tenseiga! Sesshoumaru received Tenseiga when he was older!)

"I found it and pluck it." Sesshoumaru growled, placing his hand on the hilt of his katana. "Very funny, you were the one who sliced the branch off with you 'mighty' katana and I was the one who pick it up." He stuck his nose up, a rose already in his hand.

Kuronue sighed and shook his head as their taunting began anew.

"If you realize, I was the one who FOUND it Mister I-look-at-the-mirror-at-least-99-times-a-day." Sesshoumaru took a step closer menacingly. As always, Youko was never one to back down from a challenge. "You're just jealous because I'm more 'FOXY' then you are Mister I-brush-my-tail-at-least-99-times-a-day." He spat.

"This Sesshoumaru never want to be a FOX." Sesshoumaru flared at him, taking yet another step forward. Youko growled at the insult, "It's not as if you could. This Youko is way better than a MUTT!" again he rose to the challenge.

"This Sesshoumaru is way better than a VIXEN wannabe." He taunted, taking another step forward. Youko too took another step closer that they were standing with only a foot separating their faces, "At least this 'vixen' was WAY BIGGER than a MUTT!" that got a growl from the prince of the Western Lands.

"You want to compare that?" he bit out venomously.

BONK BONK

In a split second, the two were kneeling on the ground, rubbing a huge bump on their head. "Baka!" Kuronue shook his head, throwing two halves of the apple to them, sliced cleanly in the middle. "I was thinking about things and you both are quarreling like some newborn pups!" he made them sit the Japanese style as he berated them as though they were HIS pups.

It was really ironic how a pup that was born earlier could be so much different from those born after him. Kuronue was the 'big brother' of the group, he was always the mature and calm one who understood the meaning of 'consequences'. He was never one who use brute forces to take care of things, preferring to avoid bloodshed and usually took it only as last resort. Blood triggered his dark side and it took a lot to sate the need of his blood beast.

"Thinking?" Youko asked

Kuronue nodded, "Father wants me to select a weapon for training... I want a weapon that not only can be use as a whip, it could also be use as a blade... I wonder if such weapon existed." That sentence caused the two rivals to perk up. Kuronue never want anything before, he as always satisfied with what he had. At that moment, the two rivals caught each other's eyes and realized that they were in the same train of mind.

For their 'big brother' Kuronue, they have a truce.

- End Flashback –

It was made of some complicated stuff that had long gone from his mind. It took them the whole summer to hide it and create it at the same time. And now he was under control of some kid and was attacking him with it...

"Kuronue" his voice was soft and pleading, like a whine of a lost pup.

"Youko, stop being pathetic, that's not Kuronue." He could hear Sesshoumaru's hard voice along with the sound of two metals meeting each other. Youko nodded, he grabbed the blade of grass under his feet and dashed to his 'big brother' (Even though he preferred to regard him as his soul's partner)

The grass lengthened in between his fingers, creating a thin blade which he attacked Kuronue with. Kuronue blocked it with his scythe, staring at him through shadowed eyes.

"Kuronue! Wake up!" Youko pleaded, only to find him gone. He straightened himself and searched around for his presence, 'Where's he?' he though, 'Up?' he took a quick glance up, 'No, not up.' He scanned the surrounding, 'Where's he? What ability did he use? Did he learn how to shrink? Wait! Shrink!' Youko gulped as a black figure enlarged behind him, 'His favorite ability is...' he dodged the blade that came from behind him and distanced himself.

"Shadow stealth." He smirked as he faced the Koumori youkai, "How could I forget..." he muttered as Kuronue vanished again.

Kuronue was in Youko's shadow, staring up at the still Kitsune, 'Kill... Kill him... Kill...' a voice kept whispering in his mind, 'Kill him... Kill him...' he gripped his scythe tight.

'KILL HIM NOW!' with that he lunged up, plunging his scythe deep into the Kitsune's back. Feeling nothing from his success, he was ready to pull back and deliver another blow.

Only to find that he can't.

From the 'wound' that he inflicted, it was not blood that spluttered out, instead, it was vines, Youko's favorite long green vines.

The vines slithered around his body, binding him in a vice like grip. The figure in front of him was not Youko! It was made out of vines that shaped themselves like the Kitsune!

"Tsk tsk tsk..." Youko emerged our from the back of a pine tree, "The real Kuronue would never fall for that cheap trick." He made his way to the trapped Kuronue, "I'm not only recognized as the Lord of the Eastern Lands and a plant master." He stopped behind him, "I'm also known as the illusionist." He brought down his hand right on his pressure point, watching as he fell unconscious upon the impact.

He sighed as Kuronue slumped onto the ground as a 'vine mummy', "If only I could beat you like this when you're sane..."

# On the other hand #

When Youko knocked Kuronue unconscious, Sesshoumaru had too slammed Kagome away from him with the force he held on his Tenseiga. Kagome was flung to a large tree with a loud 'THUD'. She spurt out blood from her mouth as her katana left her hand.

Nevertheless, Kagome charged to Sesshoumaru again, her palms glowing a weak pink color. "Sesshoumaru! Stop her movement! There's still poison!" Sesshoumaru caught Youko's shout.

Did he think he don't want to? He stared at the poisoned Miko, it was not that easy for him. His eyes widened when he saw her faintly glowing hands, he ground his teeth as he was pushed down to the last thing in his mind.

He stabbed his Tenseiga onto the snow and took out the Koori no Ha-Bu from his haori. He bite off the top portion of the herb as she neared.

Her hands pushed against his chest, gripping his haori to prevent him from escaping. Sesshoumaru hissed at the feeling of the purification, it was like acid slowly melting his body, and this was done in her weak state! He got to do it fast or he would be purified!

Roughly he grabbed her chin and yanked her face up to him.

"Suman, Kagome."

He crashed his lips down onto hers.

TBC...

Reviews:

inuyashagirl: DAMN STRAIGHT! They are SUPER hot!

Shelly: I'm sorry but please don't wait for it, the next update will be on January (I'm going for a vacantion)

Lass: GREAT? AW I was the one who wish to be able to write like you! Youroneshot is so cool! and it's Inu/Kag! I never like Inu/Kag!

StarPrincess2020: Me too! -sigh- :P

evilmaniac: HAUHAHUA Your name really suits you! Maybe I will try it -grin-