Authors Notes: Hey everyone. Im sorry, but I admit that in the future my chapters might once again be sporadic due to the fact Im getting my GED and a job. I will however, try to post as often as I can. My orientation is this Wednesday, and I don't know when the next one is yet. SO that is advance warning, not to mention these next couple of weeks will be busy also because my birthday is coming up and everyone is kidnapping me lol. But anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the chappy.

Disclaimer for this and past chapters: I own nothing save for my own characters. Please don't steal them. I also do not lend them out, Im sorry for the inconvienience.

Falls On Me

Chapter 14-But everything is beating down

Three days had passed. She still hadn't seen him. Did he hate her? She hated herself right now.

Kagome sighed as she rocked Maru in her arms. The baby's eyes still hadn't changed, whereas the eyes of Kohaku and Kagome had. So Maru's eyes looked like Kagome's, a stormy grey.

"Kagome, are you alright? I know everything that's been going hasn't been easy, but I don't think I've ever seen you quite like this," Miroku stated.

"It's nothing," Kagome told her friend.

"Don't hand me that," Sango piped up from her spot at the small table. She was holding the little baby Kagome, and Miroku held Kohaku. Both children were sleeping quietly as they were rocked. Only Maru remained awake.

"It's just a lot of things," Kagome told them. "In two more days the other council members arrive, and then Inu Yasha will be tried and punished."

"And you're worried about him?" Sango asked, her eyes open wide, looking at Kagome as if she had lost her mind. And Kagome was pretty sure she had. But not because she was worried about Inu Yasha. She wasn't really. It was more because of what had happened three days ago. With Sesshoumaru.

'You decide,' He had said right before he kissed her. For the life of her she couldn't have called it a bad thing. His kiss had been demanding, yet a surrender of some sort. She had kissed him back, to her own mortification. Her body wouldn't obey her commands. She had writhed beneath him, moaned into his kiss. Even arched into his body.

Until he had moved his hand up her side and begun to kiss her neck. Reality had hit her like a bucket of ice water. She had quickly jolted with a mumbled apology and run as if her life depended on it.

It's not as if she had done anything wrong by running away. In fact she had done the right thing by running. Her mistake had been letting him kiss her.

"Kagome? Kagome?" Sango asked. Kagome blushed when she realized she had mentally wandered off.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking," Kagome said.

"Miroku asked if you knew what punishment the council will mete out?" Sango said.

"It could be death. Sesshoumaru said it was mainly up to Okibi to decide, but that the other council members will help, or something like that," Kagome answered thoughtfully.

She had seen Okibi yesterday, and spoke with her about the soon to be trial. Okibi had merely told her she would punish Inu Yasha justly and her opinion could not be swayed. Kagome had no clue what that meant, but it couldn't possibly be good.

"If she orders Inu Yasha's execution, what will happen to me?" Kagome asked. It had been a thought she had been having for ever since she had found out about the trial. Maybe part of her didn't want to be what So had tried to claim she was. She didn't want to look like a whore. Just kissing Sesshoumaru had made her feel guilty, despite Inu Yasha's promiscuity.

"I'm sure you can stay here, or maybe you can go back home," Sango whispered.

Kagome almost sighed again. She had thought about going back home forever, but she couldn't leave behind little Rin, and couldn't take the little girl with her. She wasn't even sure she could take Shippou. It was something she had never tried.

"I don't know. I don't think Sesshoumaru would want me to stay," Kagome told her friends sadly.

"Why not?" Anei asked. Ever since he had seen Kagome again, she had been despondent. What had been said between her and Sesshoumaru?

"He likes his solitude and I don't think he really likes me," Kagome answered.

'If Inu Yasha is executed, I will ask her to be my mate,' Anei decided right then and there. It was sad really. He anticipated the hanyou's execution.

Kagome was ambivalent on the point. It was the reality of her world, and she had to accept it. In her time Inu Yasha would already be in prison.

What would she do if Inu Yasha was executed? What would she do if he was put in some sort of prison?

Sesshoumaru sat outside in the ruined garden. Ever since that day, he had not been able to go to either his study or his room, because her scent was still there. Soon it would fade from his room, but there would be residual traces of her scent, and that was more than enough.

Why had she run like a scared deer? Didn't she know that it was one of the worst things she could have done? It had taken him the better part of his energy to keep the beast within held back from chasing her and taking her.

Inu Yasha's trial neared and he could do almost nothing to the currently imprisoned hanyou. After all, he had knocked the damn whelp out. Okibi would permit nothing further.

He had asked her what she would do, and she said what she felt was right. Sesshoumaru sighed. Some people would view what Inu Yasha did as relatively normal considering the circumstances. In the world of nobles, killing the heirs to the title was common enough, as was patricide. But Inu Yasha had gone about it in such a foolish way. And he could be executed or banished. Neither was good for someone.

"Sesshoumaru?" Anei asked as he came out into the garden, surveying the wreckage. He had been here but once before, when he was serving as Sesshoumaru's guard when the Inu Taiyoukai was still alive. And that time he had had to try and restrain the young Sesshoumaru, and failed to do so.

"What do you want Anei?" Sesshoumaru asked. Anei tried to gather his courage, which was hard to do with memories of so long ago assailing him. Memories of the destruction the new Taiyoukai could cause when enraged.

"Sesshoumaru, stop this madness! It won't bring her back!" Anei shouted as he tried to hold Sesshoumaru back. But it was too late. Sesshoumaru landed a solid punch to his solar plexus. Anei doubled over in pain, letting go of the young Inu youkai.

"You bastard!" Sesshoumaru had roared as he tore through the castle. Anei took one last, long look at the dead woman on the bed. Lady Akari of the Western lands was dead. Her long pale hair lay around her like a silken shroud in the room decorated in creams and blues. Her skin was milky white, the red stripes on her face standing out, the blue crescent moon standing out starkly against the white of her skin.

Anei quickly ran after his charge. They were the same age, but Anei had been charged to guard Sesshoumaru at all times, as a sort of formality. The inu youkai was still young, and had not yet reached full power, or so his father was convinced. Today would change that forever. Of that Anei was sure.

He went out into the garden where the current lord, Inu Taisho, sat in the small gazebo in his private garden. But Anei surveyed the scene with a sense of horror. Sesshoumaru had his father, the great Inu Taisho, pinned against a tree, snarling at him. Poison leaked from his claws and onto the skin of the Taiyoukai. Anei knew this day would only end badly, especially since Izayoi was there. A very pregnant Izayoi.

"My mother is dead you bastard, because you decided to consort with a filthy human woman," Sesshoumaru snarled.

"Izayoi isn't filthy," Inu Taisho said back in a calm voice.

"No, she's just the kind of woman you always claim to despise. She ruts with married men while she is engaged to another!" Sesshoumaru snarled. The first signs of rage showed in the older youkai's eyes as they began to bleed red.

"You will not insult your future step-mother," Inu Taisho growled.

"She may be your whore and the hanyou she's carrying may be your son, but they will never be my family," Sesshoumaru growled as he punched his father, causing the tree to break with the force. Izayoi stood clumsily and tried to calm Sesshoumaru down.

"Sesshoumaru, please stop, I'm sorry your mother's dead," She said.

"Shut up woman, if you get his attention he'll kill you right now!" Anei told her. He didn't like Izayoi either. In the eyes of everyone in the castle except for Inu Taisho, her relationship with Taisho had been foolish, and it had robbed them of their beloved Lady Akari. For that Izayoi would always be an outsider, as well as the hanyou she carried in her womb.

"Father, you will always be strong, but know that I am stronger," Sesshoumaru snarled. "And I will pay you back for every time you hurt my mother." And with that, Sesshoumaru began to trace his father's skin. The smooth blue stripes on his face were traced in poison, then on the man's collarbone he drew a crescent moon, like the one that had graced Lady Akari's forehead. The entire time Inu Taisho was grunting, as if holding in a howl of pain. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

"As a reminder of the woman you threw away for a whore. You never knew what you had old man," Sesshoumaru said as he released his father. Anei watched in astonishment. Inu Taisho was already beginning to heal. His poison and Sesshoumaru's were similar, if not almost exactly the same. His body could easily fight such a thing. But the once smooth lines of blue that had graced his face were now jagged, the edges an erratic pattern. The crescent on his collarbone stood out starkly. What had Sesshoumaru done?

"You've surpassed me in the area of chakra Sesshoumaru," Inu Taisho growled as he stood.

"Of course I did. You have little talent in that area father. I inherited it from my mother," Sesshoumaru said, spitting the words at the older youkai like knives.

"What? Your mother was not-" Inu Taisho began.

"Wrong. It is something you overlooked when you even looked at her. She was as powerful as you. Why do you think your father forced you to marry her?" Sesshoumaru asked, his eyes filled with hatred.

Inu Taisho seemed almost confused. Akari had had powers? Then why had she never tried to stop him when he had brought Izayoi here as his mistress?

"She loved you for some strange reason old man. She loved you enough to let you go."

And with that, Sesshoumaru left swiftly. Anei followed. The garden was nothing more than wreckage now, a ghost of what it had been only minutes before.

"I will repeat myself once Anei. What do you want?" Sesshoumaru growled.

"About Inu Yasha's coming trial. What will you do if they decide to execute him?" Anei asked.

"What do you mean, what will I do? I'll probably count myself the luckiest demon in the land," Sesshoumaru snapped.

"I meant about Kagome," Anei said in a quiet voice. Sesshoumaru felt the keen interest of his friend in this answer.

"Why so curious Anei?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"If you go by tradition," Anei began.

"I will do as I please. If you are scared I'll make her leave if her husband is executed, then I will not. She's doing much for the castle, things I have not the time or inclination to do," Sesshoumaru stated.

Anei knew he would say nothing more, no matter how much he asked. It would only annoy the inu youkai. So he left, his question still unanswered.

"Lady Kagome?" Okibi asked as she came into the kitchen. Kagome looked up from her place at the small table where she was cutting up some vegetables for that night's dinner.

"Yes, Lady Okibi?" Kagome asked. Airon listened with ill concealed interest.

"I want to talk to you in private if possible," Okibi told her. Kagome nodded and stood.

"Airon, is it alright if-" Kagome began.

"I'll have Mako finish this up. You just go ahead aiji." With the cook's permission, Kagome began to follow Okibi out of the kitchen. Kagome still hadn't had a proper tour of the castle, so she had no clue where they were going. Okibi walked, silent, and her silence made Kagome nervous. Was Okibi going to tell her about Inu Yasha's possible judgments?

"Here we are," Okibi said with a slight smile. She opened a door and Kagome was greeted to the sight of a beautiful room that held portraits of several women.

"Where are we?" Kagome asked as she followed Okibi into the room.

"This is a sort of tribute to the women who have lived as Lady of the Western Lands. There aren't many women, if you look you'll notice there are several paintings of the same women. This room holds thirty paintings, all done with exquisite care by the best artists. But there are only six women in actuality," Okibi said. Kagome had no clue why she was here. What was Okibi thinking?

"They're all very beautiful," Kagome said as she looked at one of a beautiful woman who had long white hair. Crimson slashes marked her cheeks, much like Sesshoumaru's; she even had the crescent moon. His mother maybe?

"And do you know that each of them has died before she reached her prime?" Okibi asked quietly.

"That's so sad," Kagome said with a small sigh. Inwardly she wondered why, but she could not ask such a rude question. Okibi wasn't even of the Inu Clan. Perhaps she didn't even know.

"They all died of heartbreak. Or so it is said anyway. The first, Tsunagari, was married to the first Inu Taiyoukai, Inu Taisho. They were cousins, and it was a little known fact he often forced himself on her. Their marriage came about because he forced himself on her once, and she was impregnated. Because she was having a child with a man who raped her, she named it after it's father. The second Inu Taisho was different from the first, but still very much the same. He beat his wife, that woman there," Okibi said, pointing to another portrait. Kagome looked at the beautiful picture of the young, raven haired beauty. Her eyes were an ice blue. If not for the slits in the pupils, she would have looked human.

"She knew the legacy that was starting, and wished to stop it. So she named her only child, a daughter, Kitai," Okibi said. Her voice was still solemn.

"It means hope, right?" Kagome asked.

"Yes. But unfortunately, the daughter was forced to marry the man her father chose. And the man was very similar to her father. He was called Fuzento, which means wrathfully. It was how he did everything supposedly. He was a high-ranking warrior for the west at the time. He thought women were stupid and had little value, and crushed Kitai's will to live. She committed suicide," Okibi said.

"How sad. It seems like she couldn't escape, no matter what," Kagome said.

"It goes on and on. Over the course of several centuries, the men became better, but only marginally. The fourth lady of the west was married to Kitai's son, and he was a womanizer who, though he did not rape them, brutally used the female servants. The fifth was their daughter, and she was married to a possessive man who was so obsessed with her and so jealous he locked her away, always suspicious of her having an affair. If the most recent Inu Taisho hadn't looked like him, he would have denied the child was his. And that child became Sesshoumaru's father. The best of the lot, though sorely misguided. He saw his wife as nothing more than a woman to give him an heir and keep alliances from crumbling. They had an arranged marriage, you see? And it was said he thought her weak and insipid. She was anything but. I knew her very well," Okibi confided.

"It was why he and I always clashed. If he had but looked at her, well, perhaps Inu Taisho never would have tried to seek comfort in other women. He was strong, but all his life he had known fighting. He needed someone who would comfort him, make him believe he was fighting for something. I still don't understand why he didn't see Akari as the one who could do that. She too, committed suicide. Half of the women portrayed here did. The other half were killed, two by their husbands, one by their husband's mistresses," Okibi admitted.

"This is so sad. None of them were ever happy?" Kagome asked, silent tears slipping down her cheeks.

"I have brought you here for a reason. Kagome, I went to Sesshoumaru's study to inform him of the councils decision to judge Inu Yasha. But there was something peculiar about the room. Your scent and his scent intermingled. Your aroused scents," Okibi stated. Kagome blushed. How the hell was she supposed to explain this one?

"I, well," Kagome began.

"I am not judging you. In fact it's understandable. I often urged Akari to find comfort with another. She could no longer bare children after a complicated birthing with Sesshoumaru. In all honesty, you could have Inu Yasha killed without it affecting Inu Taisho's will. Why he made me the executer of that will I will never understand. But Kagome, you must understand why I am telling you all of this. The women who sit beside the rulers of this land will never find happiness, only heartbreak. I have watched Sesshoumaru through the years, and though he despises those who would strike a woman without reason, he is not one who could give you love," Okibi told her.

"It doesn't matter," Kagome began. "I'm married to Inu Yasha, and I will not have an affair," She said.

"Not for long you won't be. Normally the council will not do this, but yours is a special case, as you are the guardian of the shikon jewel. As the guardian, you must produce a child. The council has acknowledged this," Okibi began.

"But I can't," Kagome began.

"Actually, it seems someone held the facts from you. Most likely your husband is sterile. Hanyou are known to be, it is a birth defect because of their mixed blood. Some are born with the ability to have children, but most are not. Because of this, the council will be annulling your marriage to Inu Yasha to ensure the future of the shikon jewel, but on one condition," Okibi said.

Kagome could barely believe what she was hearing. They actually had annulments in this time? And the council was annulling her marriage? Because there had to be someone who could carry on the duty of protecting the jewel?

"Kagome, listen to me. I know this is quite a bit to take in, but you must listen carefully to this. The council has not met yet, not in an official capacity, but we will announce it when we judge Inu Yasha. You have no say in the annulment. The only thing you have a say in is who you will choose to marry," Okibi said.

If she hadn't been totally shell-shocked before, she was now. She had to marry, again!

"Kagome, you have to marry within the passing of a lunar month. We judge Inu Yasha one night after the full moon. You will have one month after that to present us with your choice of husbands, or we will choose one for you. And I have a feeling you'd rather choose your own. You might as well start looking now," Okibi told her in a deadly serious tone. "And from the way it seems, with you staying in the rooms Akari used to occupy, not to mention whatever happened to cause you and Sesshoumaru's scents to be aroused, I'd say he is a likely candidate. I thought you might like a warning before-" Okibi was cut off.

"Oh GOD!" Kagome shouted. Right before falling backwards, unconscious.

Authors Notes: Soz for ending it like that. But Im already working on the next chappy, so give me some time, and once again, Im sorry for any future delays. Please review.