Thanks to all of you who reviewed. Sorry again for leaving this till the last few days of the month. There's a lot of plot that's going to be happening from this moment on. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Wish I did but I don't.
Chapter 31: Back to the West
Through out the day Kagome kept an eye on the horizon. To most, the clear cool air would seem like perfect weather but for many of the youkai at the palace they could tell. One large storm was coming their way. It was especially times like these Kagome missed television, most importantly the weather channel. It felt way worse than just the average rain or thunder storm, but also less dangerous than a hurricane. If she really had to guess her answer would be a monsoon or tropical storm. She let out a sigh as she watched the sun start to set.
"Worrying about the future again?" Sesshomaru spoke. The inu had never left her side since she was nearly kidnapped. It didn't bother her but she felt as if he was neglecting other important matters by staying so near to her.
"Kind of," she answered. "I never been able to sense an approaching storm. I can't tell how bad it's going to be, only that it's big."
"Hn. For now we will make the necessary preparations for it," he replied. A small breeze blew by and he saw Kagome shiver slightly. "The nights' are getting colder. You should head inside before you fall ill."
Kagome simply nodded before following the inu back inside. They made their way quietly to the dinning hall. Shippo and Rin were already seated listening to whatever tale Jaken was telling them at the moment. What ever he was telling them, it had them quiet and entranced. The imp was finally starting to get use to the new additions in the palace. He still did not like being left alone with the children for too long, seeing as he becomes the means for entertainment when they were bored. The two took their seats with them and soon dinner was served.
"Ah, okaa-san. Today after training Hayate said soon I'll be able to practice with weapons." Shippo said excitingly after some time.
"You are? That's great Shippo." Kagome replied with a smile. She watch the kit as he continued talking about his training sessions, and couldn't help but notice the tiny bruises on his hands. If he was human, and they were in the future it would be normal to freak out at the situation. So she was glad that he was in fact a demon. Whatever injuries he obtained now would make him stronger in the future. "You have to make sure to keep a goal in mind. Don't give up even when things gets hard okay?"
"Yes. I'll do my best."
Later, after they had all finished eating and Kagome saw the children to bed, she found herself with Sesshomaru in his study. She had attended to Mizuki earlier and therefore left the pup in Tsume's care until she decided to got to to her room. She felt too restless to fall asleep and Sesshomaru allowed her to stay with him while he looked through some documents. Just like she thought, he was neglecting work to watch over her. The daiyoukai was looking over different scrolls while she sat across from him reading a few poems she happened to find. He paused every now and then to glance at her, trying to see if she was forcing herself to stay awake. From the looks of it, she did not seem remotely tired. Sesshomaru let out a small smile. There he was again over-worrying for the girl.
"Is it a lot of work?" Kagome asked when she heard the sigh. He didn't look tired or particularly frustrated about anything. Then again it was hard to tell what emotions the inu was feeling.
"No. They are mostly letters from some informants I have." He replied not bothering to think why he would. "Seems the eastern lord has been disappearing from his lands often."
"Isamu?" Kagome paused from her reading and looked up questioningly. "Why would he be doing that?"
"Nothing good I suppose." He replied. Something was telling him to warn the other lords, and not one to ignore his intuition, he decided it was best to do so once that upcoming storm passed.
They were both quiet for a long while, the only sound between them was the shuffling of papers. After some time Kagome let out a yawn. "Finally tired?" Sesshomaru question staring at her before rolling up the scrolls that was around him.
"Only a little," she responded. "I almost forgot to ask. Did you ever manage to figure out what the mark on my shoulder meant?"
"Somewhat," he answered getting up. He motioned for her to join him and led her out of the room. "It is from a sub-clan of the house of the moon, although from what I recall the crescent moon is to be the same color as my own."
"What does it means if it's red?" Kagome asked. She realized he was taking her back to her room, however, she was not going to complain.
Sesshomaru made a small shrugging motion, an inelegant gesture but he really could not care.
Kagome on the other hand thought it was a bizarre act for him. "Well, besides the color what does the mark itself mean?"
"One who is under the protection of the moon." He paused and stared into her eyes for a moment. "You have inadvertently become a member of the inu clan."
"What? A part- wait what does that mean?" She asked again confused.
"It means what you think."
"That's not answering my question."
"Good night miko." Sesshomaru said stopping in front of her room.
Kagome looked between the door and the inu-youkai before sighing. "You know I'm just going to bother you about it in the morning right?"
"Hn."
She smiled at him before opening the door and walking in. "Good night."
Not too far from the western palace, the inu-taichi stopped for the night. As much as he wanted to keep moving on, Inuyasha was more concerned for the monk in their group. Miroku was trying his best to hide his pain but the others saw through him. Sango was right. They should have waited till a majority of his injuries had healed. If Kagome saw them arrive with Miroku still in bad shape she was going to give him an earful. Inuyasha sighed. Not much he could do about it now.
"You should have stayed." Sango muttered as she tended to his wounds. Lucky for them they were not to far from the palace. As long as they did not stop again in the morning, they should be there by noon. "You are so stubborn."
Miroku only grunted in reply as the taijiya tied new bandages around his torso. The largest of his wounds started to bleed again, which accounted for his current pain. "Easily the second worse pain I've been through."
"What's the first one?" Inuyasha asked.
Miroku just raised his right hand, no doubt hinting toward the cursed hole he was forced to bear.
"And here I thought it was going to be Naraku's poisonous insects." Inuyasha said jokingly. He didn't want to focus on Miroku's curse hand. It had always made him uncomfortable. He knew it was because he did not want to see his friend die from it. If they could defeat Naraku, then he would be safe.
"No that would be the third worse pain," the monk replied with a smile.
"You should be able to recover while we're at the palace, however long that may be."
"Should we take into account the storm you mentioned?" Sango questioned.
"I don't know how long that will last. I do know for certain that it's going to hinder any plans we have."
As the night progressed on the only ones awake were Sango and Inuyasha. Miroku fell asleep soon after they had eaten, and Kikyou went off into the forest to collect souls. Inuyasha was looking at the direction she went with a sadden expression. For the time he was with her she did not once collect the souls of the dead. He guessed it was time she replenished her strength, he just wished it didn't have to be this way. Would things have changed if they had trusted each other more? Could he had been able to save her 50 years ago? All these questions and more invaded his mind when he was with her.
"Inuyasha," Sango called out to the hanyou. Once she had his attention she continued. "You can't change the past even if you wanted to. The best thing to do is move forward."
Inuyasha gave her a look to which she just laughed to. "I can read you like a book. It's the same with Kagome, you both express your true feelings through your eyes." The taijiya said before checking on Miroku. She was in the same boat. Where Inuyasha blamed himself for Kikyo's death, she did the same for her brother. It was painful but sooner or later she would have to accept that Kohaku was gone, and nothing she did would bring him back.
Once she was sure Miroku would be fine for the night, she decided to turn in for the night. A few hours later dawn arrived, along with Kikyou returning to the group. They left as soon as they were ready, and did not stop until the western palace was in their sights.
So the next two chapters are coming up right after this. Please review and tell me what you think. If you notice any major grammatical or spelling errors don't be afraid to say so. Although English is my first language I, at times, make a lot of mistakes. I try to reread most of my chapters but only notice something is wrong when I've already upload them.