Chapter 31: Time Flies

After some heavy rough housing and playing, all three children were passed out on the picnic blanket. All the adults were seated around the picnic table talking about various things.

Kagome heard one of the pups whimper and silently left to check on them. 'They're dreaming, kawaii.' She emitted a low purr and the whimpering ceased. On her way back to the table an odd smell was carried on the slight breeze. 'It smells like…medicines and…oh no…' Kagome turned and looked toward the Shrines entrance and saw a boy dressed in a school uniform holding a book, marching toward the main house. "No not now!" She said in an exasperated manner.

"Higurashi, I found this so called "Inuyasha" in an old book on legends. I've come to prove this one is a fraud." Hojo glared and pointed at the hanyou seated at the table.

"Ok, I'd like to see you try." Kagome stood staring at the stubborn boy in front of her. She crossed her arms over her chest and glanced at Inuyasha still seated at the table. Her mate soon stood and walked over and stood next to her.

Hojo looked at them surprised then opened the book he held and flipped threw the pages. "Ok then, first, Inuyasha was a hanyou from 500 years ago."

Kagome sighed at the stupidity of the whole situation. "This Inuyasha is a hanyou, half human and half Shiro Inu. He's from the feudal era and we travel through my families well. Next try!"

He raised an eyebrow at her statement. "Ummm…ok, this Inuyasha wielded a magic sword that transformed."

Kagome gave her husband a bored and annoyed glance. Without a word spoken, Inuyasha stepped to the side and unsheathed his sword. He held the old rusty excuse for a sword aimed at the boy's chest. He then made it transform into the large, polished blade that caused fear in youkai. Inuyasha was greatly pleased when he saw the boy start to sweat. He then withdrew the Tetsusaiga and returned it to the scabbard.



The nervous high schooler sighed in relief when the aggressive guy next to Kagome backed off. "Ummm…uh…ok, well, what about him being subdued by one word. It says he wore a magic rosary that caused him to crash to the ground . How are you going to prove that one?"

Kagome looked over with sad apologetic eyes as she saw Inuyasha suddenly look at her with a worried, fearful expression.

"No, don't." Inuyasha begged as he watched Kagome down cast her face to the ground, hiding her eyes under her bangs.

"Gomen…Osuwari!" She said it softly and quietly, hoping to lessen some of the pain.

Inuyasha growled and mumbled as he slowly picked himself up off the ground. He heard quiet giggling as he returned to his standing position. He turned to see all three pups were awake and giggling at him.

Chiisai stood up and took a few steps toward her parents then stopped. She pointed to her father and yelled, "Otou, OSUWARI!!"

Inuyasha flinched for a moment at hearing the word then realized he didn't kiss dirt. "Good, it didn't continue in the generations." He sighed heavily then gave his only daughter a half smile-half smirk, getting a big giggle out of all three.

Kagome was biting her tongue so she wouldn't laugh. The situation was priceless. 'Wish I had that on tape.' She then looked up to see Hojo staring at the kids in stunned amazement.

"This can't be! The sword, the 'sit,' the triplets. It's only a legend, it can't be real." Hojo stared at the pup before him, dumbfounded, her then glanced to Inuyasha then to Kagome.

"Not all legends are fake. There are some true ones and he story of the Shikon no Tama is one of them. Oh, by the way, if you mention this to anyone, I'll let my husband have at you." Kagome heard Inuyasha cracking his knuckles behind her. She was greatly pleased when Hojo turned and ran from the shrines grounds.

"That was mean you two!" said Yuka as she walked up to them.

"I know but now maybe he'll get a clue and leave us alone." Stated Kagome as she walked back over to the table.

"He really is clueless huh." Added Ayumi, causing everyone to laugh aloud and easing the mood for fun to begin again.

~***~

All five hanyous stumbled into the hut late that night, worn and tired. Kagome immediately put the triplets down for the night, not one of them fussed and all fell asleep instantly. She then walked over and collapsed on the bed. "Lets pick up Shippo tomorrow. I already told Kaede I wasn't sure if we'd be home today or not. I'm sure they've already turned in for the night anyway." Kagome felt the bed shift slightly and she looked over to see her husband as already passed out on the bed next to her. "Oyasumi Inu-chan!" She whispered before passing out too.

~***~

"Four months of searching and nothing. No shards whatsoever. DAMN!" Miroku cursed out loud at the unexpected turn of events. "I think Naraku has almost all the shard pieces…Not only that but that damn bastard has hidden himself again."

"Settle down Miroku and watch you language." Yelled Sango to the frustrated monk next to her.

Humans, hanyous, and youkai all sat on a blanket while the three pups ran around playing in the field.

Kagome sat thinking about the Naraku situation as he watched her children play. Her mind then drifted to the three scampering little hanyous. Chiisai was up in a tree, mocking her two older brothers. Over the last four months the pups had developed their own personalities along with a few other abilities. Kenji is the quiet, obedient son who has a gift for manipulating water. Akira is the strong, over confident and listens about half the time. He can call down lighting if he gets mad enough. Chiisai is the loud, obnoxious trouble maker, very headstrong and confident. She can commune with nature and control the plants. No one had a clue as to the pups' powerful and unexplained abilities. Kagome always thought it was because of her being a miko that was their form of miko power. Everyone just accepted them, even the local villagers. Many women would faun over the pups and say how cute they were. Kagome smiled to herself as she thought about the villagers and her children. 'They really are funny. I love them so much. I don't know what I would do without them.' Her train of thought was cut off by a small hand tugging on her shirt.

"Oka, can I have something to drink?" Chiisai asked sweetly just before her brothers ran up asking for the same thing.

Kagome stood up and grabbed the flask. "Stay here with everyone while I go get some water." When all three pups sat down quietly on the blanket, she ran down to the river quickly. She leaned down and placed the flask into the river watching as the air bubbles left the container. She was humming quietly to herself when she heard a twig snap behind her. Not wanting to loose the flask in the rivers heavy current she kept her eyes on the container. "I thought I told you to stay up with the others."

~*~

"Otou, isn't it taking Oka a long time to get water?" asked Kenji as he sat patiently on the blanket.

"Your right. Even for Kagome this is too long." Inuyasha stood up and pointed to the blanket. "You three stay here…I MEAN IT!" He then took off toward the river. He followed her scent to the rivers edge where he found the flask pouring out onto the ground, but no Kagome. "Kagome?" he whispered in a cracked voice. He looked around franticly for signs as to where she may have gone and why. Aside from the flask there was nothing out of the ordinary and only his mate's scent was present. He started to follow the sweet honey smell of his wife. Inuyasha ran along the side of the river for several miles. When the scent stopped all together, he panicked. Inuyasha ran around the area and jumped back and forth across the river, looking for any sign of her. There was none. Her scent had completely vanished. 'This is strange. I can smell trails that are hours cold, but Kagome's is only a few minutes old. Something's not right.' He retraced his steps to the spot where Kagome's scent ended. Inuyasha looked around franticly for even the smallest of clues. All he found was two sets of foot prints in the dirt, but they too vanished at the exact same spot as her scent. "Its as if they hit a wall…or…" Inuyasha pulled out the Tetsusaiga and made it glow red. He lifted the barrier cutting sword and brought it down on the exact spot where the foot prints and Kagome's scent disappeared. Nothing. No barrier, no destruction, no Kagome. Inuyasha shoved the sword in to the ground and leaned on it, shocked. He stared at the river and bank in front of him puzzled and distraught. His life mate had just vanished and he didn't know how to find her. But he had an idea of two places to start looking. Inuyasha stood, thinking of his options for a while before pulling his sword out of the ground and sheathing it. He then turned and started to run back toward where he left the others. The whole time pondering over who kidnapped his wife. "If either one of them had anything to do with her being kidnapped. I'll personally rip them a new hole."

~******~