Chapter eleven: Awakening.

'Raven,' the mirror on the wall that doubled as a comm-screen said, rousing her from her blissful post-all-nighter slumber. 'Incoming call from Denthrax Four, incoming call from Denthrax Four, codename Wolfboy.'

'Wrr?' she said, lifting her head off the bed and wishing she had someone to kill.

The mirror cheerily repeated its message.

Raven resisted the impulse to smash it and stood unsteadily, making her way to the wall and staring at it, rubbing her eyes. Sesshoumaru was watching from the couch where he lay, a flash of gold under a sleepy eyelid. The demon was sleeping much better now that he knew Trigon wouldn't try to take his body again, but he was still highly tuned to his environment. The message verified, and Raven lifted the screen off the wall and made her way to the living room.

Beast Boy, Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku were playing video games. Seeing other people rested when she wasn't was a terrible thing.

'Remember I told you about some friends who'd know about Naraku? They're onscreen. Hey, Wolfboy,' Raven said, pressing the activate button. 'How's Denthrax Four?'

'Yo, Raven!' the voice Sango heard from the other side of the screen was harsh but not unpleasant. It was also vaguely familiar……..

'Wimpy wolf,' Inuyasha growled beside her, and he dropped the console and stomped over to Raven. 'What the hell are you doing here?'

Raven looked at him. 'You know this guy?'

'Heh,' the youkai onscreen said. 'I'm surprised he recognised me after all this time. I thought his brain would've atrophied by now.'

'Words of more than two syllables, Kouga?' the hanyou growled. 'You amaze me.'

'Well, I'm a college professor. Have to hold up my reputation and all.'

'You, a teacher? Now I know the world's coming to an end.'

'Kouga?' Kagome said as she entered the living room. 'Are you talking to Kouga? Is he still alive?'

'What's it to you, wench?' Inuyasha demanded, blocking her view of the screen.

'Kouga is a friend,' Kagome said, with an air of having said this several times. 'I'm not interested in him that way, and I will sit you if you call me a wench again.'

'Yo, dog breath. I'm not interested in her anymore.'

'If we're all done having sweet reunions?' Raven said. 'Wolfboy, what did you find out?'

'Well, quite a lot, actually. And the information's completely free this time, since all I had to do was write down what was important. I've mailed it to you, but Kagura said she wanted to talk to you.'

'Kagura?' Kagome said.

'She's alive?' Sango said.

'She's on our side?' Miroku said.

'And what the heck is she doing with the wolf?' Inuyasha said, scratching his head.

'Heh. Inuyasha. Where have you been hiding all these years?' Kagura stepped up to the screen and waved cheerily. His hand dropped instinctively to Tetsusaiga, and she laughed. 'Oh, don't be stupid. I'm not under Naraku's control anymore. Why are you in the future?'

'A bit of time travelling,' Kagome said.

'She needed a vacation,' Beast Boy chimed in. 'Denthrax Four? Hey, isn't that where Starfire's fiancé came from? What was his name again………Glrdlesklechhh.'

'Bless you,' Miroku said.

'No, that was his name!'

'Yeah, he's the Prince or something. I wasn't here until four months ago, so.' Kouga shrugged. 'He's dead ugly and that's all I know. He's uglier than you, too, dog-shit, and that takes a lot of work.'

'What the heck are you two doing together?' Inuyasha said again.

'Well, after Naraku freed me–'

'Freed you?'

'Long story. Anyway, I left Earth as soon as I could after Naraku freed me. Kouga and I met up a century or so ago and fought every few months or so before we realised it was much more convenient to find each other if we were living in the same place. So we moved in together…….' Kagura smirked. 'The rest I'll leave to your imagination.'

'Th-th-that's unnatural! You're…….he's……'

'Eloquent, Inuyasha. Real eloquent.' Kouga put a possessive arm around her shoulders. Inuyasha was…….how did these Titans put it? Oh, yes. Grossed out. He twitched as the wolf youkai leaned in exaggeratedly for a kiss, knowing Kouga was jerking his chain but helpless not to react.

'Get a room,' he growled and turned away from the screen. The youkai's laughter burned in his ears as he grabbed Kagome and left.

'So, Raven,' the wind user said, still chuckling at the hanyou's exit. She sobered and straightened, pulling away from Kouga. He waved and left the screen. 'I felt some presence in this dimension a day ago. It was like Naraku, but not exactly. Three hours later, I get attacked by a……..thing…….that reminded me a bit too much of my not-so-dear creator. And then Kouga told me you had come looking for information about Naraku's death two weeks before. What's going on?'

Quickly, Raven outlined what they knew. Kagura's eyes tightened ever so slightly as she heard her out. 'I'll be there,' she said when the Azarathian finished. 'It should take a few hours. Any help I can give you, I will.'

'That would be good,' Raven said, tilting her head. 'But why?'

'It's simple,' Kagura said. 'I hate Naraku's guts. I want to see him die, slowly and painfully, even if it's only his body, and I want to laugh in his face while he does. And if I can help him along in some little way, it would make my year. Decade. Century.'

'Fair enough,' agreed Sango, who understood perfectly.

The Wind User's face darkened. 'You do realise that if Trigon or Naraku complete the jewel……they already have most of it. If he makes a wish……' She saw their shock and smiled again, bitterly this time. 'I see you hadn't thought of that. Well, now that I've ruined your day, I'd better go find my fans. I'll see you soon, Raven.'

The screen clicked and darkened.

'I'm not sleepy anymore,' Raven announced to nobody in particular.

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Sesshoumaru was dozing lightly in Raven's room, wrapped up comfortably in his moko-moko sama, when he felt her rise and half-opened an eye. She walked over to the screen on the wall, which was squawking at her. One advantage of living in a place like the Tower was that he could hear everyone's movements with his keen ears……smell was disrupted slightly by the air-conditioning, but he could track anyone down in seconds; he could even feel some auras. Inuyasha, the houshi, the miko and Raven, who all had some magic of their own, whether physical or psychic – and Rin smelled strongly of him, which made her easy to track. He closed his eyes and heard her walk into the living room, heard the conversation with a wolf youkai and….Kagura. So she had lived. That was a good thing.

He sighed, and all the smells of the Tower rushed into his nose on the inhalation. Dog demons tended to rely heavily on their ears and nose to analyse their environment. It was a reflection of their animal nature, he supposed. A smell contained information on ancestry, preferred habitat, the people the subject had recently been in contact with, diet, sexual habits, whether the subject had certain abilities (miasma, poison, pyrokinetics, mind-manipulation among others)……and on closer contact, whether they were feeling emotions which registered physically in galvanic response, breathing changes or body movements. It was as effective as reading auras, more in some cases. Some part of the soul was defined by the factors that scent revealed; being close to someone for long periods of time, close enough to truly smell them, was like being immersed in their soul. It was too……intimate. It was one reason Sesshoumaru hated society of any sort, hated being touched, hated being close to others.

There were two downsides to his sense of smell. One was purely physical, an annoyance at most; the other was beyond deadly. The first: vulnerability to scent attacks like the one the firecat-girl had tried. The second: pack.

His thoughts scattered as he fell into a thankfully dreamless slumber. He was woken again a few hours later when he felt Raven approach. Spice and lavender, dark energy rising and falling with her heartbeat, strong youki, light steps. He slowed his breathing and deepened it as if he was asleep. She walked into the room, closed the door softly before replacing the screen on the wall and lying down again.

'I know you're not asleep.'

Resigned, he opened one eye and stared at her. She wasn't looking at him. She was lying on her back, a thin dark blob on the blankets. How did she–

'Your aura's different when you sleep.'

He hated the way she read his mind. Even without her abilities.

'Sorry. I know you don't like it when I do that. If you want to be left alone…….'

'Don't tell me what I'm thinking. It's annoying.' He was too comfortable to summon up enough energy to snap and the words came out too quietly for his taste.

'Huh,' she said with tired amusement. 'Funny. I thought you liked it.'

'I will not stay here after Trigon is dead,' he said firmly. It was suddenly very important to say that, so he did. 'I will leave the Tower after that.'

It was the truth. He had wandered too long, known freedom and irresponsibility too long to remain tied to a place for much time. Besides, living with them while opposing their aims was hypocrisy.

And Sesshoumaru was not a hypocrite.

She turned over to look at him at that, propping her head on her hands. 'You're going back to the past?'

The answer to that was obvious. The past was……good while it lasted, but between Raven's books and Robin's crime files, he had a good idea of the underworld of the future. It was exciting and challenging in a way that killing stray humans and youkai in Sengoku Jidai wasn't. With guns and lasers, it was possible for him to be injured, maybe killed if he was careless; and what was ultimate conquest without ultimate risk?

'No. I will stay in the future.'

'And take over the world?' Mild curiosity, nothing more. He didn't reply. 'That's what you told your father. You dream of him often.'

He sighed, then wished he hadn't as her scent washed over him. Not that it was unpleasant, but it was…….too easily recognised.

'You're not going to tell me, are you.'

He shook his head solemnly. If he wasn't careful, he was going to laugh out loud at how ridiculous everything was.

'Sesshoumaru?' Tentative. Not a good sign.

'Hn?' he said warily.

'What's pack?'

Anything but that. Please, anything but that. He exhaled in a way that made it clear he didn't want to pursue the matter further. She didn't take the hint, though he knew she had picked up on it. 'I overheard you talking to Kagome the other day……. I left, but I caught the word before…….so what is it?'

'Kin,' he said curtly, annoyed that she had eavesdropped. 'A group defined by blood, deed or association. It entails certain responsibilities towards the other members and allows them certain strengths and insights into each other.'

'Is it a demon-to-demon thing, or……?'

Sesshoumaru huffed, sitting up. Why was he even paying attention to her? He opened his mouth to cut her down with a well-placed insult, and listened, horrified, as he replied to her question instead. The words spilled out with absolutely no control.

'There are few restrictions on the race of the pack's members. My father, for instance, mated a human woman.' The words burned on his tongue. 'While human members of a youkai's pack do not sense the bond as the youkai do, they feel……things……..that amount to pack-feel. Affections, a need to protect, fear.'

'Love, you mean.' Raven rolled over, staring up at the ceiling of her room, and missed seeing Sesshoumaru's face twist in near-physical pain. He clamped down on his aura, cutting her off. 'What you speak of as pack, humans call it family. Like the Titans. And Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango and Miroku – they're family too.'

'My brother's pack is strong,' Sesshoumaru admitted. 'As is yours.'

His face and aura were blank, but inside, he was in turmoil. He had done everything short of coming right out and saying it. She truly didn't know, did she? Of course, as a hanyou, the chances of her learning youkai ways were slim. And she had grown up among humans.

'It sounds like a good thing,' Raven remarked. It was the sincerity in her voice, the tiny little smile as she thought of her family that made him finally snap.

'It's not,' he said harshly, blurring over to the bed to tower over her. She stood on her bed, alarmed, but he still had a few inches on her. 'You have no understanding of the dangers of pack-feel. When you recognise your pack, it is irreversible, immediate, and it has no regard for anything. For a greater youkai such as I, my blood simply chooses my pack for me. I have had no say – none – in those I call pack. And not one of my pack is anyone I would ever wish to be allied to! I lost my father to him, and my mother to my father! I never had a choice in anything, I was never given anyth-'

He stopped. He had said too much. He had shouted, in fact, which he never did. He controlled his breathing, his emotions; stepped back until he was no longer nose-to-nose with her. She relaxed fractionally.

'Since you couldn't possibly want anything from Rin's family, should I assume you're speaking of Inuyasha?'

She was a little frightened, he could smell that. Her heart-rate was high, but her voice was calm. He forced himself to ignore the question.

'Before I answer that………there are some disadvantages to being pack. For instance…. I am an inuyoukai. My responsibilities towards my other pack-members would include protecting them and ensuring their well-being. Their only responsibility would be to follow my command – and with lesser beings like hanyou and humans, even that is not necessary. And once one acknowledges that another is pack, it requires them to be completely honest with them.'

'So that was why you were answering all those questions,' she mused. 'You sounded like you'd rather have your teeth pulled. I was wondering wh…….' She trailed off, and he waited silently for her to draw the obvious conclusion. Saw the realisation dawn on her face. 'Oh. Huh…….' she said, trying to process it.

He nodded, not bothering to acknowledge it openly.

'But you barely talk to Rin.'

'I don't lie to her. And unlike Rin, you have significant power and demon blood. It's enough to enforce the instinct.'

'I suppose I'm flattered,' she said finally.

You'd better be, he thought but didn't say. Two hanyou, two humans. What a pathetic pack his blood had saddled him with.

'You had no choice?' she said emotionlessly. Hiding behind her mask was foolish. He'd figured out long ago that when she was only emotionless when she was feeling something. 'I'm sorry about that.'

He shrugged it off. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't anyone's fault but his blood's.

'Well, I'd say my father qualifies as an unwanted bond.'

'But you were not pack, not if you could kill him.'

'You're right. Trigon was never my family. But Inuyasha is yours, judging by how you react to him. You hate him, and he's pack. You've fought him and aided him, all these years……but to be such in conflict with your blood. Wouldn't that hurt you?'

'Freedom is worth some pain.'

'I'm sorry,' she said again, knowing how useless that was. She could feel the pain radiating off him. For all purposes, he'd simply been informed that she was his family until he died, and all she could do was apologise? How hopelessly inadequate. 'Rin, Inuyasha, me…….that's your pack?'

'The miko as well.'

'A hell of a choice for a demon supremacist.'

'I laugh myself to tears about it at nights,' he said bitterly. 'And don't apologise again. I told you it's not your fault.'

'Ah. So it's your blood's fault? Sesshoumaru, how happy do you think you can be if you hate yourself?'

He looked at her, eyes blazing, but before he could reply, he froze, one ear twitching backwards. 'Jyaki,' he said. 'It's Jinx.'

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'Six-eighths wrench,' Cyborg said, sticking his head out from under the T-Car. Rin handed him the wrench obediently. He gave her a quick grin before he crawled back. The kid really was picking up the trade quickly. Rin was the most talkative child he'd ever seen; she even put Beast Boy to shame on occasion. She liked watching him work, and hung around him most days, singing or humming or playing pointless games with herself. It was nice, like having a radio on.

Beast Boy skidded into the room. 'Hey, Cy!' he said excitedly. 'Check out how I can transform now!'

Cyborg groaned. 'I'm working, BB. Go away.'

'But it's really cool! It's so much bigger!'

'BB,' he said very patiently, 'GO AWAY NOW!'

The grass stain trudged out, crestfallen. Rin followed him. Cyborg shook his head and continued to work.

About five minutes later, the voice-activated bug in the med room buzzed. There was a whispery crackle in the room, as if someone was having a quiet conversation or………pulling on clothes? Cyborg pulled himself out of the T-Car's innards, cracking himself on the fleshy side of the head in the process. He was inside the room in fifty seconds, which was an official record.

Jinx was awake.

The sorceress was pulling her costume on, her back to him. She stopped moving when he entered the doorway. She was mostly dressed.

'Jinx?' he said hopefully. She didn't respond. He stepped closer.

'Cyborg.' The whisper wasn't Jinx's, and he turned to look at the door where Raven was standing. Her dark energy was crackling around her in a dark flame. Sesshoumaru was right behind her. 'Get away now.' The urgency in her voice froze him in place even before Jinx turned to face them. Her lavender eyes were glowing opaque crimson, and there were four of them.

'Jinx,' he said, so softly even Sesshoumaru barely heard him. 'You're not……'

Jinx raised her hands slowly, jerkily, and a hex-bolt formed at the tips of her fingers, one on each hand. It wasn't pink like her normal bolts were. It glowed and danced like fire, and its colour mimicked her eyes. The first bolt launched itself at the pair in the doorway, and bounced off a dark shield. It connected with the ceiling of the room, sending plaster everywhere. The second hit his legs, freezing them to the spot. Jinx smiled, an ugly feral smile that looked terribly out of place on her pretty face.

'Cyborg,' Raven said quietly. Her hands crackled blackly. 'I'm sorry.'

He thought briefly, crazily, Why is everyone whispering?

And before he could even begin to wonder what she was sorry about, a wave of black filled his vision and everything went very very silent.

Chapter twelve: Titans' Tower

'Get everyone out of here,' Raven said in a strained voice. Sesshoumaru could see Jinx sending bolt after bolt at the thin, transparent barrier that contained her and the motionless Cyborg, and the empath's arms were trembling with the force they were absorbing. The inside of the barrier was pulsing with fire. 'It's going to blow. NOW, or she'll kill us all!'

And for the first time in centuries, Sesshoumaru obeyed a direct order and ran.

He found most of them scattered through the common area, and his roar of 'Attack. Get out of the Tower!' was enough to get them moving. He sniffed. Rin. Where was Rin? The roof, with the green boy. The Tower blurred past him as he raced to the roof, not bothering to open doors to go through them. The boy was on the roof, transformed into some strange goat with large horns, Rin giggling on his back. Sesshoumaru didn't even stop. 'Get her off the Tower. It's going to explode.' The boy nodded and transformed into an eagle, picking the child up in his talons and flying off over the water, but Sesshoumaru was already back in the Tower.

Raven's teeth were gritted and her entire body was convulsing. Jinx wasn't even visible inside the barrier anymore. Instead, there was only white fire, star-hot. Whatever she did, it wasn't going to keep for more than ten seconds. At most. Maintaining the secondary barrier that kept Cyborg safe from the searing heat Jinx was projecting was much more difficult. She was just about to let go when Sesshoumaru blinked back next to her, eyes darting as he took in the situation, drawing his sword. She wanted to scream at him to get out, but before she could unclench the muscles necessary to do so the barrier failed. She had just enough time to step in front of him and draw her cloak around them both………

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From his perch on the waterfront of Jump City, Sango stared as Titans' Tower glowed red-hot instantly. Starfire, who was still carrying Robin and Miroku, swerved crazily as she saw it too, falling to the ground from the shock. Inuyasha leapt to intercept her, catching all three in midair and landing safely. The crimson Tower in the middle of the harbour burned for another microsecond before it erupted.

A pillar of white fire as large as the island rose to the skies, vapourising every cloud in its vicinity, blasting upwards as if it wanted to reach outer space. It nearly did. The explosion was all the more frightening because it was completely soundless. Apart from the sound of the Tower shattering, there was no crackle of flame, no mushroom cloud, nothing remotely normal about the fire. Its base expanded in an eyeblink, blinding them and streaking out at the city. Raven must have shielded the city from the worst of the blast; its force expended before it reached, and the white fizzled and faded abruptly just a few hundred metres away from the place where they were standing. It was still extending outwards, and the pillar of flame blazed for another second before winking out abruptly. Blue afterimages danced across Sango's eyes. She could see the sea floor. The fire had simply erased the ocean.

A factory siren shrilled loudly. They all jumped.

'Raven…….' Beast Boy said numbly.

'Sesshoumaru-sama?' Rin added.

'Goddamn,' Robin said, pale. He swore so rarely that they all stared at him. 'Tidal wave.'

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The depth of the ocean in the natural harbour of Jump City ranged from a couple of hundred feet at its deepest to thirty or forty at its shallowest. The entire harbour was now dry, and the ocean rushed to fill the vacuum in blind obedience to natural law. The wall of water seething towards the unsuspecting city was now some fifty feet high. The Titans stood, shellshocked, as the wave approached the place they had fought all these years to protect. It had already covered the island. The shriek of the water grew louder, and Inuyasha cursed as he hoisted Kagome onto his back and leapt up to a terrace high enough to be safe. He jumped back down to continue the rescue, dimly aware that the rest of the group were doing likewise, and by the second trip he knew they were out of time.

Seconds before the wave hit, a solid wall of transparent air smashed into the wave from above, gentling it and pushing some of the water back. The wave that finally hit the harbour was only six feet tall. The barrier released gently, ensuring that the ocean remained somewhat calm. Inuyasha whistled in appreciation. Making such a barrier wasn't something just anyone could do.

Beast Boy transformed and flew to the island that was just appearing over the waves, faster than anyone had ever seen him fly. Halfway across, he transformed into a dolphin and dived beneath the surface.

'Yo, dog breath!'

Kagome laid a reflexive hand on his arm as he growled, hands crooking into claws equally reflexively. Kouga leapt off Kagura's feather, which was hovering over their heads. He was still dressed in his old costume, but the fur and breastplate had been replaced by supple leather. He was barefoot, and his tail waved as bushily as ever from the back of his pants.

'Really, Kouga. Must you be so uncivilised?' Kagura said as she hopped off the feather they were on, shrinking it and tucking it into her hair. In contrast, she was dressed in an entirely modern fashion in a conservative skirt-and-blouse outfit. 'So. Nice work?'

'Brilliant, my love,' Kouga said, giving her a hug and an exuberant kiss on the top of her head, the only place he could reach since she was facing the others. Kagome watched him warily, hoping he wouldn't grab her hand and start flattering her again. It was deeply disturbing when he did that, but not quite as disturbing as seeing him with Kagura. There, she had to agree with Inuyasha, who was trying hard not to gag. That was just wrong.

'You didn't take that……thing…..from Denthrax Four, did you?' Robin said skeptically.

'Uh, no. The ship's in the woods, duh.'

'That was quite impressive, Kagura,' Miroku said, calm as ever in the face of the weird.

'I had five centuries to practice,' the Wind User said, shrugging. 'What actually caused the wave? I just got here.'

'Titans' Tower blew up,' said Robin in some disbelief. Nothing could possibly have survived that blast.

Kagome keeled over, unconscious.

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Pain. A lot of pain, spread out all along Sesshoumaru's back, and salt water stinging recent burns gained from being propelled at high speed through the ultra-thick red-hot walls of Titans' Tower by the explosion. A dead weight pressed to most of his front. Which was quite unburned, and that was strange, because hadn't he been facing the blast? He took a shuddering breath and immediately regretted it as a wash of cool water entered his nostrils. His arm tightened instinctively around the weight – Raven, he remembered her stepping in front of him – as he began to choke. Which way was the surface? His eyes were blinded. He'd lost his grip on Tenseiga. Even the fang hadn't put up a barrier strong enough to keep them safe. Raven must have thrown everything into that shield.

A huge mouth opened right behind him and swallowed them whole.

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He woke up again a minute or so later as Beast Boy (in whale form) blew him and Raven out of his mouth and onto a rocky beach. The impact sent another vicious stab of pain in his back, which had just begun healing. He lifted his arm up experimentally, wincing in disgust as whale saliva dripped off it. That child had foul breath. Raven wasn't breathing. He couldn't hear the sound of it, and her heart was slowing already

The untransformed Beast Boy darted up the beach to them. 'Is she okay?' he demanded. Sesshoumaru let go of the dead girl, rolling himself upright as he coughed again and again, trying to get rid of the water in his nose and lungs. He grunted, annoyed that he'd fallen into deep water again. He lost all sense of direction in the water because it warped his hearing and smelling so badly; this made him extremely vulnerable to drowning, and he hated it. He looked at the Titan, who was pressing down on Raven's chest repeatedly and listening to her lungs. A waste of time. He reined his emotions in carefully and began to fly off, before a choking sound made him turn back. Raven was coughing up water, and her hand was scrabbling weakly at the sand under her. Sesshoumaru watched quietly, making no move towards her or away. The burns were really beginning to sting, now that the adrenaline was slowing. They were going to take hours to heal.

'Rae!' Beast Boy yelped delightedly, and grabbed her into a hug, burying his face in her hair and pulling her into a sitting position. 'Rae.'

'Get off me,' she mumbled, comically horrified, but one arm came up reluctantly to hold him back. The green Titan sighed happily for a second before he frowned, pulling away as her arm dropped apathetically.

'Raven. Where's Cy?'

'Cy.' The empath's eyes widened, and she tried to stand before flopping back down to the ground. She growled, frustrated, and tried again with no success. 'I think the barrier held. He could be anywhere in the water…….maybe he's even awake.'

'Tenseiga's in there as well,' said Sesshoumaru. Asking a mortal for help. This really wasn't his week. Only two things could make it worse. He could die, or Inuyasha could hug him. Now there was a real nightmare.

'Relax. I'll go look.' The shapechanger dove into the water again.

'It's times like this I wish Aqualad hadn't joined Titans East instead,' Raven complained as she tried a third time to stand. When she couldn't, she groaned and flopped onto her back, glaring at the sky. 'I don't suppose you'd actually come over here and help?'

'Ah, but I like to watch you suffer,' he said.

She stared at him. 'Was that a joke? Well. The world really is ending.'

He huffed and pulled her upright, keeping her standing with the aid of a fistful of cloak. Raven wobbled madly, grabbing his arm to support herself.

'On second thought, maybe you were serious.'

His lip twitched. 'Completely. Are you feeling dizzy?'

'I don't have the time to feel dizzy. Can you take me to where the others are? I'm too tired to fly.'

Sesshoumaru hned in agreement and tightened his grip around her.

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'He's distracted now,' Naraku said conversationally to Kagome, who shivered slightly at the shock of seeing him. They were in a small featureless gray room, and he had just told her that they were in his mind. 'If he weren't recovering from causing that blast through the girl's body I'd still be stuffed in a corner of my own.'

Well, Kagome thought. I've always been too brave for my own good. Let's see where this goes. 'He's using your youkai. You're not in control at all?'

The hanyou laughed bitterly. 'Does it look like it? Listen carefully. I haven't much time. Don't give me any information; he might find out. Jinx's soul is not within her body anymore. He's ripped it out and placed it within a cage in mine. She will not return to her body. Don't hesitate to kill it if you see it.' Naraku's eyes darted continuously from side to side of the little gray room and she could sense his fear. It was palpable. 'His powers are a combination of his and mine.'

'So T-'

'Don't say his name!' the hanyou hissed, clapping a hand on her mouth. 'He's going to reconstruct here.' A flash of a dark underground chamber lit up the inside of Kagome's mind. 'Tonight, at moonrise. You have five, maybe six hours left. If I can strike, I will only strike as night falls. Remember that,' he stressed. 'I want him dead as much I've ever wanted………never mind. I won't know when night falls, you'll have to tell me. I am on your side today. He's going to attack you all. To keep you from the place where he's going to ascend or to get the Shikon shards; either will fulfil his purposes. Two shards are not in this world, I understand?'

Kagome paled. 'No. They're here.'

'Shit, don't tell me that! Keep the shards safe. And stop the ascension.'

'You don't sound normal.'

'You're not here to analyse my speech patterns. Now get the hell out.'

Everything blurred and she felt him touch her cheek ever so lightly. His whisper of 'Kikyou,' was the last thing she knew

before she woke up to find Inuyasha staring at her, so close her eyes crossed trying to focus on him. 'Kagome?' he said inquiringly in that harsh half-whisper he used when he was worried about her; that whisper that warmed her heart. He could be so sweet, she mused dreamily for a second.

'Inuyasha,' she smiled and grabbed one of his ears on reflex. He flicked it out of her grasp and sat back. 'Well, you're back to normal. Why did you pass out, stupid?'

'I didn't faint,' she said indignantly. It was really amazing how easily he could annoy her! 'I was…..' and she trailed off. Not one of the three here who knew Naraku would pay the least attention to anything he said. He could play poker with the devil and win, and he had proved himself a traitor a hundred times over. Kagome was the only one who'd never lost anything to him. Miroku's life, Sango's family, Inuyasha's love. But he did seem sincere, and he'd been afraid. That, if nothing else, convinced her. Naraku had never displayed fear. Anger, smugness, shock, rage, bitter sorrow……….but he had never been afraid.

'Kagome? Are you spacing out on me?'

'Wha? Uh, no.' She scrambled to her feet, dusting off. 'I had a vision.'

Inuyasha arched one dark eyebrow. 'A vision? Are you sure you didn't just, hallucinate or something? Since when do you have visions?'

'Since now, you jerk!'

'Keh!' he said and crossed his arms across his chest. 'Wench.'

'Inuyashaaaa……' she said sweetly. He cringed.

Quickly, she told them what Naraku had told her, making it seem as if she had seen the images. When she told them about the underground room, Robin frowned.

'Think she's talking about the library, Ra–'

He cut himself off. Except for Starfire, who was crying silently at the edge of the roof, he was the only Titan there. Beast Boy was looking for Raven, and she and Cyborg –

No. He wasn't going to go there, because that wasn't something he could handle.

'This is serious,' Kagura remarked.

'Keh! Tell me something I don't know.'

'Inuyasha…..'

'Go ahead and sit me, idiot!' the hanyou yelled. 'See if I care.'

'Actually, I was going to tell you that Sesshoumaru's coming.'

The hanyou spun around faster than any of them to stare at the approaching white-clad dripping form of Sesshoumaru. Kagura, who had the keenest eyes, spotted the dark shape first. 'He's got Raven!' she called to the others. The tension grew until Raven lifted one arm and waved weakly at them. Robin felt his eyes burning behind his ever-present mask as they landed on the terrace. Starfire squealed and gave Raven one of her infamous bone-crushing hugs. Raven batted her away as she grew slowly purple for lack of breath. 'Two hugs in a day,' she complained under her breath, clutching her throat. Sesshoumaru felt a twinge of pity. He knew exactly how she felt. Rin's hugs could be….. disturbingly tight at times. She was giving him one now, with all four limbs wrapped tightly around his right leg; the only way she could hold on tighter would be to dig in with her teeth. She was talking faster than a chipmunk, and the demon knew better than to focus on her conversation. That was an express route to a raging migraine. Robin stepped up next, giving Raven a much softer hug and a hand-squeeze before smiling and moving back to let everyone else have their turn. As he turned away to stare at the ocean, Sesshoumaru felt oddly……….no. He was never lonely, was he? But watching Raven surrounded by her friends was troubling, because it simply highlighted the fact that except for Rin, he didn't really have any real–

Someone tapped him gently on the shoulder and he looked over, surprised he hadn't heard footsteps. Kagome stood there, smiling. 'I'm glad you're alive,' the miko said. In a whisper, she added, 'And so is that idiot brother of yours, even if he won't admit it in a million years.'

Sesshoumaru nodded in reply and looked away. Something clicked inside him then, a new link established in his aura. He recognised it. So Kagome had acknowledged him as pack. That made two agreed and two undecided. He felt Inuyasha's eyes on him from across the terrace, felt the wariness and regret and indecision in his last blood relative. The fates truly did hate him.

'Robin,' the communicator crackled. 'I've found Cyborg and the sword.'

'How is he?'

'Uhh…….remember the time we went to see who was trashing that communications station and that big ugly chased us all and the T-ship crashed on that planet with the big aliens and he went to pieces and I had to put him back together?'

'Ye-es,' Robin said carefully.

'Worse. Much much worse.'

'How much worse, Beast Boy?' he snapped, keeping precarious hold on his rapidly fraying sanity. A long meaningful silence from the communicator.

'It's going to take months, Robin,' the Titan said finally. 'If it can be done at all. His head's been injured this time, and he's the only one who can repair himself.'

Robin covered his eyes for a second, closing them under the mask, his face twisting slightly. 'Okay. Leave Cy on the island and get the sword here. Out.' Robin clicked it shut as a distant green shape took wing from the rocks. 'So. We're short a Titan. Raven, take Kagome and go check out the library. If it is the place, let us know immediately. The rest of us are going to stock up on weapons and then follow you.'

'Robin. We don't have a weapons store anymore. It kind of blew up?'

The Boy Wonder stared at her as if she was stupid. 'Do you really think the tower was the only place I stashed stuff?'

'Heh,' Raven said sheepishly. 'All right then.'

'I'm not sure I should be going anywhere near Jinx,' Kagome said thoughtfully. 'I mean, if Trigon's there, and he captures us, he'll have all the shards but two.'

'Which is why you'll give me the shards until you get back.' Robin extended a gloved hand to her. The miko looked doubtfully at it.

'What makes you think I'll let you have the shards?' Inuyasha said suspiciously.

'Don't be a fool,' Robin snapped. 'I've no interest in these shards of yours. What's the matter, you afraid of me?'

Inuyasha's teeth bared. The Titan stared him down, irritated.

The hanyou snarled wordlessly before turning away. Kagome lifted the chain with the Shikon shards off her neck and handed it to him. 'Don't touch them,' she cautioned. 'And don't let anyone else take them.' The Titan nodded seriously.

'I think we'll stay here,' Miroku said. 'They might have need of our knowledge.' Kouga opened his mouth to say that he knew more than the monk, but Kagura stepped on his foot hard and he shut up. 'If I may have a word with you before I go, Kagome?'

'Of course, Miroku,' Kagome said warily. The monk looked serious, and that wasn't a good thing. A serious Miroku saw too much and said too little to be comfortable.

He knelt down on the terrace, dragging her down with him; pulled out a piece of chalk from somewhere in his robes and began writing swiftly on the concrete. Kagome was puzzled for a second before she understood. Writing was an effective way to keep Inuyasha or Sesshoumaru from listening in.

What actually happened?

I don't know what you're talking about, Miroku.

Yeah, right. You're a lousy liar.

Does it matter? The information is accurate.

It matters. You wouldn't lie about what you learnt, but as to how you found out – who was it, Kagome? Was it Naraku?

Kagome's face went tomato-red and her jaw dropped. 'H-h-how did–' she squeaked. Miroku raised an eyebrow and shushed her silently.

If it had been anyone else, you would have told us. It's probably wiser that you didn't. I don't think the other two would accept it. That was your reason, right?

I hate you.

Thank you. I know. I love you, too.

Pervert, she wrote fondly. Are you going to tell the others?

No, not if you don't want to.

Naraku said that if he could, he would strike at sunset. Do you know what he meant by that?

No, though it rings a bell. I'll think about it.

Miroku stood up, erasing their conversation. 'Thank you, Kagome,' he said and smiled. Kagome threw him a grateful wink.

Behind her, Raven raised her hands. A stream of dark energy shrouded the others, settling into their bodies. 'Raven?' Beast Boy asked.

'It's what I did the last time. It should make you immune to the mass-spells Trigon casts. Remember what he did last time?' The Titan shivered. The entire world – and everyone in it – had been turned instantly to stone.

'Come on,' Raven said impatiently as she walked deliberately to the door leading inside the building. 'We're running out of time.'

'Aren't you going to fly?' Kagome asked, curious.

'In case you didn't notice, I'm tired. Public transportation sounds good right now.'

'Keh. Too slow.' Inuyasha was standing next to Kagome, hands tucked out of sight as always. 'Climb on, wench.'

'You'd spill her in a moment, you clumsy fool,' Sesshoumaru commented from across the terrace.

'I do not! I carry her all the time!'

'And how do you propose to carry Raven at the same time?'

'Eeh……' Inuyasha said, scratching his head.

'Oh, look, it's thinking. Stop before you get hurt,' the inuyoukai said as he stepped up next to them. 'Hn. I'll carry her.' He scooped Raven up in his arm, pinned her to his front and leaped off the roof. 'Race you there, brother!' he called. Inuyasha swore and leaped to the next roof as Kagome whooped and clutched his shoulders for dear life.

'We don't know the way!'

'I've got a map!' Kagome yelled.