Hope on the Horizon
Chapter Two
"I'm alright; you're probably thinking I'm just fine." - 'July' ~ Breathe Carolina
x . . . . x
Kagome would bend him to her will if she needed to because everything depended on them succeeding.
Her, Inuyasha, and Sesshoumaru.
And she would succeed. She wasn't losing anyone this time.
.
When they parted, Inuyasha's cheeks were crimson and he had gaped in a way that expressed his confusion and inability to say anything. Kagome leaned up kissed his nose before pulling away and making a move to stand. She brushed the skirt off and sighed, "This is not going to work. I need armor."
Inuyasha shook his head and stood abruptly, "Armor? For what?"
She smiled at him, close lipped, and not quite reaching her eyes, "Naraku is still alive, Inuyasha, and we have to kill him before I can move onto my next objective. I can't do that without my armor." She rolled her eyes, "Well it's not my armor yet – I have to make it first, but before that I need to kill a dragon." She said the words so casually and comfortably that Inuyasha stilled.
"Now you wait a damn minute! If you think I am letting – " her eyes narrowed at him as she crossed her arms over her chest, " – you run around trying to get yourself killed, then you have another thing comin'! You ain't fighting a dragon, Kagome!"
Shaking her head, she patiently responded, "I am not asking you, Inuyasha. I am informing you that I am killing a dragon for my armor. I understand that for you, yesterday I was still learning about my power. I can't pretend that I do not know what the future holds, Inuyasha – can't pretend to be the Kagome you knew yesterday. I'm older and stronger – I know what is going to happen and I'm changing it. I'll leave you here to think about it. Take your time but I'll head back to pack up camp and start the journey to the Valley of Dragons." Kagome breathed a sigh and implored him, "Think about what has occurred and how you want to handle it. For now – " she shrugged her shoulders, " – I can do what I have done for the last several years. Keep trekking. Just know that I am not going to try and change this new circumstance, I am taking this gift and making a better future for us."
She walked past him, her footsteps normally clumsy and loud were quiet and easy.
.
Sesshoumaru had not returned back to camp and it didn't surprise her.
She knew he would return one way or another but he was practical and could be talked to and reasoned with eventually.
Right now, she was on a mission to hug her friends.
She went to Shippo first and hugged him tightly, her eyes filling with tears and trailing steadily down her cheeks. She made no sound as she held him to her breast and kissed the crown of his head, "Am I dead in the future too?" he asked quietly as she wrapped herself around him and inhaled his scent.
Voice thick, she murmured, refusing to lie, "Yes, Shippo – everyone is." He rubbed her shoulder, his little frame too small to reach anything else. She swore vehemently, "Not this time though, Shippo – I am not the same little girl I was yesterday. I know how to use my power and I am battle tried – " she looked at him and smiled, " – a warrior through and through." Her throat was closing with emotion as she whispered the words she knew she had not yet told him in this timeline and had missed saying in hers, "I love you, my little kit."
He made a sound that was partial a cry of surprise and another of happiness, "Love you too, K'gome."
Heart soaring, she wiped her eyes and went to Miroku and Sango, lips curling as she held them close.
It felt good, now that the crap with Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha had been addressed, to hold them again. See them both alive and on the hunt again. She had ached with their deaths, her soul cried for them.
It was Sango who asked, "D-Did we really win?"
Kagome had smiled at her then, her lips too wide and holding a tint of madness, "Oh, Sango – we are going to win. Naraku is a monster but a baby monster compared to what I have in my time. He is just hard to pin down – thankfully, I know how we pinned him."
After talking briefly about their next steps, they gathered up camp.
Sesshoumaru had left behind Rin, Jaken, and Ah-Un.
Kagome made her way to them and smiled brightly. Her heart ached seeing Rin. Her death had been a painful thing to bear witness to and seeing her there alive and well brought something inside her to heel. She had been there for it and it had been brutal, more than what she could bare and more than what she had the heart to repeat. Rin was a regular play mate to Shippo but she had always been a little more reserved from the group, much like her guardian, so Kagome did not rush to embrace her as she did everyone else. Instead she patted Rin on the head.
"We are going to the Valley of Dragons if you want to pack up Ah-Un. Sesshoumaru will find us sooner or later when he is ready."
Rin nodded, her smile bright, "Yes, Kagome-sama! Do I still call you that even if you aren't the same?"
With a smile, Kagome nodded, "Of course, treat me as you always have, Rin! I am the same though, just a little different."
Jaken squawked loudly, separating the two, "We will not be leaving behind Sesshoumaru-sama, lying human scum! We will wait for our lord!"
Kagome crouched until she was eye level with Jaken, her smile still in place. There was an unnatural light in her cerulean orbs, brightening them with her power, "Jaken. Let's get acquainted, shall we?" He had been loyal to Sesshoumaru until the end and Kagome would forever appreciate that, but she was on a mission and Jaken's bullshit didn't have a place in her plan. Her hand shot out and landed on his shoulder, her power simmering below the surface, "Whether your master has come to terms or not, I am Lady of Western Lands and I can either be a kind lady…" her voice dropped and her power swelled, "…or I can be cruel like your Lord. What would you like it to be?"
Ten minutes later, both packs were consolidated into one group and headed toward the Valley of Dragons where Kagome was going to start her hunt.
It was interesting to say the least. The makeshift pack had fallen in step behind her easily. Initially, Sango and Miroku had watched her warily but when they realized she knew where she was headed then they followed without question. Her younger self had never travelled at the front, usually a step behind Inuyasha or at the end with Sango and Shippo.
For Sango and Miroku it was an odd thing to see their miko friend stand at attention as she was. Her back was straight and even Sango could feel something that felt like Kagome reaching out around them, keeping them safe. She walked with confidence, sure and even steps across the rough terrain. Had Miroku not been able to feel her soul, he would have thought she had been possessed but nothing was out of the ordinary – he had checked her aura thoroughly.
Sango moved to the front. Normally, it was Kagome – always Kagome reaching out. Kagome had been there through the tough times with them but she had never experienced a loss as brutal as theirs. She was apart of it but always separate – a watcher through a window. But Sango knew without a doubt that whatever Kagome had experienced had in some ways eclipsed that they had gone through. Not that one pain was greater than another, but the experience weighed heavily on her and was fresh. This time, like Kagome had done many times before to her, Sango reached out and laced their hands. Providing her a quiet comfort.
Sango coming up to her hadn't startled her, but her grabbing her hand did. Toward the end, there hadn't been any hand holding while walking. It had become a memory of a quieter and less war-torn time. She gave their hands a look and realized that this hand of hers was no longer as calloused. It was soft, some barely there callouses forming, but not like Sango's hand. Lips curling downward, Kagome fretted for just a moment, before she remembered that they used to do this. They used to hold hands and giggle and talk.
She smiled wryly. What was there to giggle about now? Warily, Kagome wondered if Sango would ask about their deaths.
Her fear was unfounded as Sango's hand tightened, "Let me catch you up on our journey. It's been awhile for you – ten years? I'm sure there are some things you may have forgotten."
Tears burned her eyes as she listened to the playful chatter of children – moments she had lost to the sounds of battle in her head. She was getting a second chance with her mates, yes – but with Sango back at her side, Shippo and Rin playing behind her and Miroku singing a filthy song just barely edited for the sake of the children? She was also getting a chance at preserving her family. She fell into the lull of Sango's voice and if she shed a few tears followed by quietly suppressed sobs, it was okay. No one would blame her.
Several hours later, Kagome was surprised that her calves were burning.
She frowned and stopped, the group behind her taking a collective breath in relief, "We were wondering when you would stop, Kagome-sama." Her eyes went back to the group behind her and she met Mrioku's worried gaze. "Normally, we would have stopped for the children." She saw Shippo and Rin sitting on Ah-Un, no longer walking, a little tired from playing and running.
It took her a second to realize the problem and she scowled, looking an awful like Inuyasha, "This body isn't battle ready." She clenched her hands at her side and remembered this morning. She was aching because she had moved in ways her body was not used to when fighting with Sesshoumaru. In her mind, just yesterday she had walked and walked through rough terrain, through snow, and had no issues with her body. She turned to her companions, "I'm sorry everyone, let's break for lunch." At the edges of the forest that surrounded them, she felt a tingling in the base of her skull. Her heart skipped and she set her bag down by a tree, "I'll back in a few minutes."
As the pack began take out lunch, Kagome shook off the ache and made her way into the forest.
Sesshoumaru's energy signature had always been distinct but after they had mated, it had shifted, his power growing. Right now, this Sesshoumaru and her did not have that full experience. Their souls were bound but a physical mating had not taken place so he did not yet get to reap the powerful benefits that his future self had. Her heart fluttering in her chest she came to him. With Inuyasha, things had been different but no less intense. But Sesshoumaru's death was raw on her heart.
When she broke through the foliage and saw him there, sitting and waiting for her, her breath caught.
She made her way to him and sat before him, much like she had with Inuyasha, however this time there was no touching.
Kagome spoke first, the nostalgia in seeing him in this clothing versus the armor she had left him in making her ache. His hair was lifted by the gentle wind, and his eyes bore into hers, cold and unyielding, "You called me, Sesshoumaru?" His citrine hues darkened and she smiled placatingly in response to his agitation. Her hands twitched with the need to soothe him, soothe his anger that felt like a living and breathing thing surrounding them.
He spoke one word and in it was everything, anger and rage – distantly she heard his pain, "Why?"
Her voice trembled with hurt and she began to speak what she had yet to tell Inuyasha, "We were complacent, all of us. One day, years after Inuyasha and I mate, after you become accustomed to us… an evil stirs to life. It doesn't want anything but destruction and power. There were whispers of something coming, something destroying villages, tearing apart lives. You leave Rin to train with Kaede-sama so that she can learn the ways of a miko and for several years we are all happy." Kagome paused, her eyes flashing and voice thickening in grief, "The village is laid to waste and only Inuyasha and I survive because we are unprepared for a force so evil. For five days, Sesshoumaru, five fucking days he and are surrounded by the corpses of our friends while we try and stay alive."
.
The tear tracks marring her dirty flesh had dried long ago with the blood and mud.
She didn't think she could scream anymore as she came across Shippo's head.
It's on a pike and there are oni ripping apart his dead flesh.
Her purity brightened the night like a beacon and through the screams of the sizzling oni she could hear the laughter of others. Kagome grunted as she was lifted into Inuyasha's arms just as her purity sputtered out. She made a sound, her hoarse voice breaking through, "Inuyasha – No! You're injured! Put me down!"
And he was.
There was a sizable hole in his stomach and his ankle was broken all to hell but he still made the jump, still pushed himself to get to her and drag her back to Goshinboku.
They were surrounded on all sides. The might of the oni and youkai more than what their battered forms and battered hearts could handle. The Goshinboku was a safe space though. She had imbued every arrow she could find with her power and pinned them all in and around the tree. A barrier and been built around them and so far, the enemy could not penetrate it. Inuyasha grunted when they passed through the barrier, setting her down before he coughed and collapsed with a groan to his knees.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome leaned down and her panic was stark in her voice.
Inuyasha coughed again, blood coating the ground, "I I'm fine – q-quit your worrying." He took a seat on the roots and she came to him, the bag that had been filled with herbs and food at her side. She had left while he was resting, confident in her ability to slide out and back undetected. They needed supplies; it was the reason she had left.
And she almost made it back until she saw Shippo.
She immediately set to working on him, her lips curling downward, "We can't stay here any longer. The barrier is fading, I can feel it. When it falls…" she stopped her grim line of thought.
Inuyasha looked down at her with dull eyes and face coated with blood. His clawed hand reached out and landed on her extended abdomen. His tongue was heavy when he asked, "W-why can't I - the heartbeat …"
Tears burned her eyes and she doesn't have the heart to say what he knows to be true.
She was seven months pregnant.
But there was no heartbeat.
Inuyasha crushed her to him, his strength waning in and out as he held her to his side.
Kagome could feel those last stolen moments in her heart. When that barrier falls, and she knew it would fall here soon, then they would die. But they were Inuyasha and Kagome and they didn't go down without a fight. Kagome tended to his wounds now that she had herbs and she fed him a cold broth with her stolen ingredients. Tetsusaiga laid at his side, Kagome curled against him while he rested. He had given her his fire rat robe at the beginning, and she tucked it around them as they slept restlessly.
They both awoke, startled by the pounding against the barrier.
The oni were testing it, throwing the weaker ones at it, laughing as they disintegrated.
Inuyasha and Kagome exchanged a worn look, but Kagome smiled at Inuyasha.
It was a little broken, saturated with sadness, and her eyes shimmered with tears yet she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
With confidence he didn't really have, Inuyasha grinned at her, "Don't worry, wench, it's gonna be alright."
She knew he was lying but nodded anyway as the barrier began to shudder.
He leaned toward her and before he kissed her, he murmured, "I love you."
She fell into his desperation and his love, the pounding and jeering growing louder, nearly deafening her. When they pulled away, she whispered back, "Love you too."
Because what else can you say before you're about to die?
They helped one another stand, her body screaming, his already falling apart.
Tetsusaiga flashed to life and Kagome strung an arrow.
When the barrier fell, they went to work.
Her arrows streamed across the oni, disintegrating them as they came into contact.
The Windscar followed in her arrows wake but where they were killed, more oni took their place.
They began to tire fast.
Their outlook was grim.
Several larger creatures burst through to the front line with a speed they couldn't keep up with. One made contact with Inuyasha and he went sailing, hitting the Goshinboku hard before it reached for her. Inuyasha was screaming her name as she released her arrow at the creature.
But the arrow sputtered before her power left it completely.
She was finally out of reiki.
"Kagome!"
It happened in an instant.
The creature's hand was about to make contact and a green whip tore through its wrist.
Its blood caked her, and she met the unforgiving eyes of the Lord of the West.
There were several other high-level youkai around him, screaming orders and they fought back the monsters in the night.
His voice broke across the sounds of battle and though it was said normally, he as well have screamed it, "Where is she?" Kagome shook her head, her haunted eyes telling him all he needed to know but he needed to hear it, had to know before he left this place behind. His voice was steel, "Where is she?"
Kagome's heart and voice broke, "Dead. Like everyone else."
He spoke quickly, his voice firm, "Did you see?" Empty, she nodded. Something flowed through his eyes, but he leaned over and picked her up in his arms. He called out behind him, "Riku – get the half breed and retreat."
Two out of the five soldiers were already dead, and Kagome watched as another youkai that looked similar to Sesshoumaru grabbed her mate. The soldiers each nodded and then they were travelling – light encased them and Kagome had the odd sensation of flying. It didn't last long, seconds really but when they popped out of the light, the sounds and smell of battle had faded.
She couldn't feel anything nearby except for the youkai around them.
Exhaustion had overtaken her and in Sesshoumaru's arms, she faded.
When she came to, it was to Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru talking, "Honestly, I didn't see it." Inuyasha's voice was choked, "Sesshoumaru you have to believe me – I wasn't there for it. You saw the village – it was chaos, how many there were. I barely found Kagome and when I did…" This time Inuyasha made a sound that could only be a sob, "… I-I failed her."
Kagome shook her head, she could feel Inuyasha's grief through the mark, she sat up and sitting down between the two mats was Sesshoumaru as his brother fell apart before him. Kagome made a quiet sound as she crawled toward them, her attention on the brothers, her intent on reaching them both. What was left of her pack.
Sesshoumaru's hand steadied her and helped her crawl to them. She was in so much pain and they were in an unfamiliar room, but she paid attention to nothing but the mark burning between her and Inuyasha. When she reached them, her body fell against Inuyasha as he held her and cried. Sesshoumaru met her gaze and he asked her solemnly, his Adams apple bobbing, "Do you know how she died?"
Kagome leaned forward and grabbed his hand, he didn't push her away, this was not the time for prejudices, "Are you sure you want to know?" He didn't answer for several long moments, but his nod was curt. She squeezed his hand and her voice shook, "They ate her."
What she didn't have the heart to say was they ate her piece by piece, her shrill screams just more lost in the chaos. She had been alive. Kagome had faded in and out herself, she had been hit so hard that she was thrown through a hut. Her abdomen had been on fire and she knew that it was bad. Several smaller youkai were tearing at her clothing, and she was seeing black.
That was how Inuyasha had found her.
.
She hadn't told her Sesshoumaru the gory details that day, didn't think it had been important, but she had told the Sesshoumaru in front of her. Sesshoumaru's hands had clenched and she pressed on, coming out of the memory, "Alive, she had been alive. She only stopped screaming when they ripped her in half." She shook her head, physically shaking the memory from her, "You had heard of the disturbances in your land so you were already investigating with some soldiers. It was sheer and utter chance that you saved us that day."
Kagome released a breath and she wrapped her arms around herself, "Our enemy, Sesshoumaru, is a god and not a small one either and we don't figure out how to kill him. We treated him like every other enemy and it was our downfall. On all fronts, North, South, East, West – we join forces and army after army is slaughtered. We call it The Hoard and the Hoard is mighty. The other main houses worked to consolidate their powers and we did too. It was suggested to open up the mating but we all firmly declined it." Kagome paused and rubbed her arms. She felt Inuyasha coming toward them, "It was a mistake because when the West fell, he was there destroying it. He tore through the Western Citadel. We escaped only because your mother sacrificed herself for us." Her eyes connected with Sesshoumaru's, "In a desperate bid for power, we open the mating and conduct a soul bond. The soul bond is what allowed us to plateau but honestly? It was too late. We roamed the countryside for several years with some survivors, trying to find a way to kill a god. Inuyasha was killed sometime later. You die three years after him and then I die and end up here."
Silence permeated the air, Sesshoumaru observing the hanyou that had joined them and priestess before him. Inuyasha was seated between them and they created a small circle. Their youki hummed and Kagome tugged on the strings that bound them together. Inuyasha made a sound that could have been a grunt while Sesshoumaru growled.
Inuyasha broke the silence, "What is that?"
Kagome smiled as she broke into an explanation, "The soul bond. A mating bond is a little different. Mates do not share power – mating is a binding like marriage, just more permanent. A soul bond is where we all traded some pieces of one another and with trading came power." Voice soft and happy for Inuyasha, "You become three quarters youkai. A quarter from Sesshoumaru and the only human piece of you is me, and that gave you immunity and spiritual powers." She looked at Sesshoumaru as he waited to hear what he gained, "You received the same immunity and spiritual powers but the youki you received from Inuyasha was what allowed for you to almost double everything. You speed, rate of healing, your hearing increased even more, strength, all of it."
"And you? What did you receive?" Sesshoumaru asked, distantly curious as to how she benefited.
She laughed, "I gain some youkai traits – healing, speed, but you really can't tell at first glance. My purity over road most of the youki so really just little things."
"But how come we don't have them now and how does the bond even exist?" Inuyasha asked, and Kagome shrugged her shoulders, not really sure herself.
Surprisingly Sesshoumaru answered, "Soul ties are meant to follow after death into reincarnation and the like. It is possible when she was pushed back, that she also brought the bond with her, yet it is not complete. Although there, the bond still needs to be retied so to speak."
It was silent for several beats as Kagome looked at the brothers before her. Inuyasha was still confused so she filled in the blanks, "Sex, Inuyasha. We aren't mated yet and that happens through sex."
Inuyasha cursed and Sesshoumaru gave her stare, his ire at the situation still stabbing him but knowing what he did now, there was little to be done to change their circumstance. Soul bonds… his future self must have been crazy… or desperate. But he had probably been both if her words were anything to go by. He had decided to bind himself to a human and his brother of all people – bound himself to finding them in every life he had hereafter. It was a very serious situation, one that required consideration. Youkai completing soul bonds were rare simply because binding a soul for eternity was a mindboggling. Not many would subject themselves to seeking another out in reincarnation after reincarnation.
Surely, he had considered everything but how could one know how events of the future would affect his past? His future self would have never been able to predict this – that the miko would come back to rewrite previous events.
Voice gruff, Inuyasha tucked his arms into his sleeves, "Can we break it? The bond? I mean you're here now and can change how the future unfolds." His brows furrowed, "Which means we wouldn't need to bond because we would kill him before it all goes to shit, right?"
Although he would never say it out loud, Inuyasha did have a point.
But he knew the futility of it before the miko opened her mouth.
"No, Inuyasha – I'm sorry. Whereas a mating bond fades in death, a soul tie is a very pure form of magic and in untying the bond we risk dissolving all our souls." Her voice dropped as met their eyes seriously, "Complete non-existence."
Sesshoumaru felt his anger shimmer through him as he held back a growl. His future self was a weak fool to tie himself to a miko and his half-brother of all people. Inu were pack animals and he couldn't imagine what kind of things he had subjected himself to with them. His skin felt tight, too small to control the rage that he felt. If there was one thing he truly despised, it was others attempting to meddle – even if they were his future itself it seemed.
He was the Lord of the Western Lands and he controlled his destiny.
Lip curled over teeth, he demanded answered, "And if we ignore it, what then?"
The miko shrugged, "The deed is done, why ignore it? As angry as you are there are benefits." She tugged the cord that bound their souls and this time both inu-youkai physically jumped. Inuyasha was suddenly crimson face while Sesshoumaru's face was stone. Kagome smiled sheepishly, "My bad, my bad, I was trying to shove my power at you and you tasted something else."
The hanyou sputtered, "And what the fuck was that?"
Her cerulean hues twinkled, "It's been a long time since I saw Sesshoumaru angry at me."
Cursing, Inuyasha pressed, "What does that mean?"
Smile brightening with a laugh she spoke, "Oh, Inuyasha – I used to have a lot of fun in making him mad is all." Sesshoumaru frowned as her laugh deepened. When her laughter tempered, Kagome looked at her partial mates and sighed, "Look – I'm not saying this will be easy for any of us but the sooner you understand and agree, the sooner we can move on and learn our power, enjoy the time we have before it's gets real bad. For you, Sesshoumaru – I am already your Western Lady. Since you had no mate while we stayed at the Western Citadel, your mother allowed for me to take over the day to day duties. I know how to run your household and take care of affairs when you're away. Human I may be, but I am not a stain on your family neither is Inuyasha. You gain a true beta in your brother – someone that wholly has your back and will never betray you. With him in the West you solidified your power. And you Inuyasha? You gain a family, a place to belong. Everything that you feel you do not have."
"Difficult this may be, but – " her voice broke as she leaned forward and grasped their hands loosely, " – please believe me when I say that we were happy. Genuinely." She gripped their hands a little tighter, "You may not be the same Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru that I left behind… but you're still mine. Just as I am yours. Please try, try and really give this a shot because the deed is done, you can't change it and the more you fight it the less time we have."
She squeezed their hands once more and stood, waiting to see of they would join her. When they didn't, she walked away.
Sesshoumaru hated how something distantly jerked when she had said, I am yours.
She was pack and pack always came first.
Mates came first.
In the furthest recess of his soul, his beast raged.
Then he turned his head met Inuyasha's gaze. His brows were furrowed, confusion at the forefront everything. He hadn't been travelling with them long but things had just started working between the packs. Sesshoumaru's lips curled downward, before he intoned, "What do you feel, little brother?"
Inuyasha's features were startled but then his cheeks pinked, "You know, this ain't how I wanted it. I always figured that I would go to hell with Kikyo and if I didn't, I'd stay with Kagome, you know?" He leaned back, falling back into the grass as he watched the clouds above him. Suddenly, he grinned, "And it turns out I did stay with her." There was something thick in his voice as his throat tightened, "Kagome doesn't lie – she says it how it is. I've cared about her probably since the first time I saw her, it ain't difficult for me if she says we're together." His eyes closed and his lips twisted into a snarl, "What pisses me off is that this me has to share her from the get-go. The other me got her to himself for a while. Once I wrap my mind around it though – I ain't gonna fight it. You shouldn't either."
Sesshoumaru refused to lay back like his brother and instead he leaned on the tree behind him. Lips pursed, he refused to look at him again, "Explain."
Inuyasha grunted, "Don't order me around, asshole." Despite the words spoken in they were said without malice and he pushed forward, "The shit's already done, nothing to be prideful about. Your future self is still you; I can't see you agreeing if you didn't want to even if the fucking world was at stake."
Sesshoumaru didn't say anything in response.
Because he too had come to that conclusion.
.
.
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Wowwww two chapters so quickly? So basically, cliff notes. Sesshoumaru had decided to travel with them already and it's been a few months. The brothers are making it work at this point and then future Kagome comes back and fucks it up. It can't be that easy though to win over two brothers. Where would the fun in that be? Also before anyone says anything about mating bonds - let's remember that mating is a fanfiction trope and can be interoperated in any way a writer chooses. Thank for all reviews, follows, and faves!