Chapter 41:

Mistaken Identity

"It's been 2 days…why won't they wake up?" shouted a distraught black dog hanyou.

"Kagome, you must calm down." Replied Myoga from the floor beside the fire pit. "I explained earlier that the children had a lot of power drained from them. On top of that, it would seem that Chiisai was chanting while being held by Naraku which is why Kohaku is alive and Naraku is dead. Doing that took even more energy from them."

Inuyasha tried to calm his mate and looked to Myoga and Nekome. "Why did Naraku want the kids in the first place?"

"Each child held a different jewel inside them; such is the fate of all with dog demon blood. If you combine those 5 jewels with the Shikon jewel, the power is magnified by 10 fold." Relayed Nekome from her spot next to Myoga.

"Wait, wait, wait…if each dog demon has a jewel…what about Kagome and myself?" questioned Inuyasha who was still trying to calm his wife.

Nekome hung her head and shook it back and forth. "I'm not sure. Even your fathers wondered about that. It's as if you two were born without any jewels. It didn't seem to affect you in any way so we didn't investigate."

"You don't suppose someone did to them what Naraku did to the kids do you?" inquired Miroku.

"We thought about that but Lady Kagome and Lord Inuyasha was never out of one of our sight. Someone was always with them."

"Uuhhh…"

Silence feel over the room at the hushed tone of a moan. Everyone looked over the children to see who it had come from.

"Uuhhh…"

Yuu quickly scrambled over and looked down into his sleeping fiancés face. Her eyebrows were scrunched together like she was fighting to awaken. A slight relieved smile spread a crossed his face. Yuu placed a hand to Chiisai's forehead and whispered, "Chii, wake up. You've been asleep too long. Please wake up…"

"Yuu…" the name was so quiet that even Yuu had to strain to hear her. When Chiisai's eyes fluttered partially open Yuu grabbed her in a tight embrace. "Can't…breathe…"

Everyone started laughing happily at having Chiisai back with them.

"Damn its noisy here…"

There was suddenly silence then a laughing screech followed by a loud thump. Sango had leaped at her brother and hearing his voice and seeing him sitting up. She hugged him as if her life depended on it and tears started to fall wildly from her eyes. "Oh Kohaku, you're alive, you're really alive and Naraku is finally dead. Now you can stay with us at our home!"

Kohaku rubbed the back of his head with his hand as a slight blush tinted his cheeks. "I guess I could…If it's alright with everyone else?"

Sango looked over to her husband and son with a huge hopeful smile and huge wishing eyes. Miroku and Makoto both hung their heads in defeat and nodded in agreement.

"Well, now that that is settled, we need to think of what to do know. The jewel is in pieces again. Do we start all over again looking for them or just wait for demons who posses them to come to us?" questioned Inuyasha who seemed to really be thinking about this.

"The logical action would be to go in search of the shards before a demon gets them or we may have another Naraku to deal with." Replied Kagome, a serious and thoughtful expression on her face.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Ya sounds good to me."

"Me too."

"When do we leave?"

"I'm hungry."

The four voices got everyone's attention and they all looked over to see Kenji, Mizuki, Akira and Kori sitting up looking at them as if nothing had happened. Each person sighed in relief when they saw the kids were finally awake.

"I want to eat before we go anywhere. I'm starving!" announced Kori.

Everybody laughed at his simple admission. "I agree." Stated Kagome and stood up to go make dinner. The children were informed what had happened to Naraku and everything taking place before and after his demise. They then sat down to dinner and discussed their next move and getting back the jewel shards.

A week later found the group traveling down a well used road. They were heading North in to wolf territory. None of them had been this far in years. No need, with Kouga looking for the shards as well it was only a matter of time before he found those in his territory. Then they could just take the shards from him. But now was different. Naraku had taken Kouga's shards recently and they didn't know what condition he was in, plus, Naraku mentioned him having a woman, if that's the case, what state of mind could he be in after Naraku threatened her.

They were getting closer and closer to the wolves den. All were calm and relaxed, they all talked cheerfully, and totally unaware of a pair of teal eyes watching them.

They all stopped dead in their tracks to listen to the whistling that echoed throughout the forest. In the next second, metal sliced through clothing and skin.

Akira grabbed his arm where the arrow had grazed him just barely but still drew blood. He spun around and looked in the direction the arrow had been shot from. Everyone else followed his actions. All eyes and ears were on the trees. Nothing. No movement, no smell, no sound. Nothing.

"EEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" A girl of about 15 ran out of the trees wielding a dagger and lunged right for Akira.

Akira watched the girl with dark red ponytail dressed in white and brown fur charge at him. 'She's charging ME!' He realized her actions just in time to counter her actions. As she brought the dagger down at him he grabbed her wrist, flipped her on to the ground then quickly retrieved her weapon and sat on her stomach holding her own dagger at her throat.

"Now tell me, why did you attack me?" The look in Akira's golden eyes was a warning not to lie or beat around the bush.

She glared back at him. "You attacked my father and threatened my mother. You need to be punished."

Akira leaned back a little and stared at her, completely confused. "I don't even know your father and mother. And I don't attack unless provoked. I think you have the wrong person!"

"NO, you're defiantly him. You have long black hair and…you…have…DOG EARS!" She moved so quickly that she knocked Akira off her onto the ground and she sat before him and bowed repeatedly. "I am so very sorry, sorry, I'm sorry…I thought you were the evil man that stole my father's Shikon shards. I'm so very very sorry."

"Wait a minute; you're 'Fathers' Shikon shards? Is your father Kouga?" asked a curious Kagome.

The girl turned slightly and smiled and nodded at her question. "I am the daughter of Kouga and Ayame of the Wolf Tribe, I'm Koume. Nice to meet you." She bowed in greeting.

"So you attacked Akira because you saw he had black hair?" Yuu interrogated her and pointed to Akira. "Because of mistaken identity, Akira was injured!"

Koume's eyes grew wide as she focused on the blood staining his sleeve. She scooted over and pulled a bandage from her belt pack and started to tend to his wound. "I'm so sorry; I didn't realize you weren't Naraku. How can I make it up to you?"

"Well, we destroyed Naraku a little over a week ago but there was an accident." Akira sat on the ground cross legged and had a half thoughtful look on his face. "You could help us look for the Shikon shards."

Koume sat thinking quietly to herself. "If it will make amends for what I did sure, I'll help!" She smiled cheerfully at him. "I already know where there are three shards. Come on"

They followed Koume deeper into wolf territory and right up to the den. Koume went inside and everyone followed her. She went and stood beside Kouga and Ayame and whispered in their ears.

"Kagome, Inuyasha, long time no see." Ayame ran over to them and took Kagome by the hands. "I haven't seen you since my uncle kidnapped you. You look sooo good, and your pups have grown up well too. Kouga finally married shortly after we got you home and we had Koume. I'm so happy."

Kagome smiled at her. "I'm happy you finally nabbed him. I'm happy I got Inuyasha as well." Both women laughed as Kouga and Inuyasha stood side by side feeling as if they had been plotted against. "Ayame, Kouga, we have a problem. When we were fighting Naraku the Shikon no Tama was shattered again. Do you have any shards by chance?"

"I was wondering what happened!" Kouga stated then walked up to Kagome and held out his hand. "When I found these I immediately thought the worse. Since I have a family now, Ayame won't let me run around like I used to." He hung his head sadly and placed the three shards he had in Kagome's hand.

"Thank you Kouga. Well we should get going, we have a lot of shards to find before another evil youkai gets them and we have another Naraku on our hands."

They all bowed and said their farewells. Though it seemed like a black haired hanyou didn't want to leave. They exited the cave then stopped.

"Where to next?" asked Miroku.

"Lets continue northward, and then we can stop by my house as well. I bet my parents are getting worried. They may think I eloped with a village girl."

"Which would be bad since you're already engaged?" Chiisai stood inches from him and stared evilly at him. Yuu held his hands up in defense.

Yuu placed a quick kiss on her lips then stared back at her and whispered. "No need to worry Chii. I've been in love with you since the moment we met." He then turned and started to walk away, catching up with the others since they left them behind.

Chiisai was so surprised by his words that he was stunned for a moment then she ran to catch up to her fiancé, smiling the whole time.