8.
Kaede was sitting in her usual place on a big pillow. A few family members were sitting around her, their Collared Ones standing and sitting against the walls. He noticed every one of them had a knife or a gun in their hands. He also noticed quite a few worried gazes turned his way. Miroku was seated beside the door he had entered through, a staff in his hands. He could hear Ayame telling Shippou that Mama was going to see him in a few minutes and now he should go with her to the kitchen to taste new cookies.
"Kagome..." he started and froze when he saw the girl laying on their picnic blanket under the wall behind Kaede. She looked like she was sleeping, a calm expression on her face. A thick barrier of shimmering blue was encasing her realized that they had brought her here only because the edges of the blanket were beyond the barrier; it was too thick for even a human to enter it and touch the girl's body inside. He swallowed and turned his eyes to Sango and Kaede. When the old miko gave a gesture he sat down in front of her.
"Inuyasha," Kaede started. "My granddaughter said you encountered Kikyou the other day, and that she somehow warped your beads so she could order you like your true mistress."
Inuyasha's eyes darted to the girl laying behind her back, and he nodded.
"What exactly happened when she took you away from Kagome?" Kaede asked. "It's not an easy feat to make a youkai - or especially a hanyou - go feral... So badly."
Inuyasha realized he was staring at Kaede with his jaw hanging open like a fish out of water. Feral? Him? Only weak youkai were inclined to go feral, or very injured ones. He couldn't remember being injured... Had it been Kikyou's doing? To make him go crazy and turn him lose against his own family? Was that the reason why there were so many members of the family - all armed - watching him with such tension and uneasiness? Were they expecting him to attack Kaede?
When Sango cleared her throat he realized he had to answer - and quick. One of the biggest reasons miko families were able to lead their lives according to their own laws and weren't bothered by government was because they were the ones who took care of feral youkai. Inuyasha remembered Shippou's words - his surprise Inuyasha was so willing to return, the 'official' version of the event in the park...
"She wanted to disguise herself as Kagome and enter the Shrine. She wanted to reclaim the Pearl," he said. "She ordered her man to kill Kagome and the rest, and told me to bring her here... I don't remember anything else. I... I'm not a mindless killer, Mama. You..."
"Hush, child." Kaede lifted her hand, her one good eye boring into him. She seemed to be calm and focused, but not worried about him being a threat. "Sango, would you fill him in?"
"As you wish, Mama," his friend sighed. She turned to look at him, her gaze somewhat pitying. "When Kikyou took you away, her friends attacked us. Miroku and I kept them at bay for a while, but Kagome wasn't feeling good. She lost consciousness and Miroku felt her aura shift like it was trying to... Find a way around something, and manifest itself. That's when Onigumo and his friends joined the party. We were about to grab Kagome and run for it when suddenly something exploded in the direction you had left. Onigumo screamed and fell to the ground with his beads broken."
"Broken? Is that even poss-" Inuyasha started, but Sango silenced him with a nod.
"Beads break when the master dies," she explained. Inuyasha whimpered faintly and reached for his throat, his face going pale and his gaze flying to Kagome's slumbering face.
"Kagome isn't dead," Kaede said, correctly interpreting the half demon's reaction. "There are other ways to break the beads, but all are nearly impossible," she said calmly, not minding the curious looks of some of the people wearing beads in the room.
"When Kikyou died, the spell she had cast on your beads and Kagome was gone, but for some reason Kagome didn't wake up, she just created this barrier," Sango gestured to the barrier surrounding her sister. "Then you returned."
"Oh, boy," Miroku sighed and shook his head.
"Wait, why are you so sure Kikyou died?" Inuyasha asked. "She couldn't have just run away and… And lost her hold on Kagome's power...?"
"You were dragging her..." Sango swallowed, "...parts."
Inuyasha felt his stomach drop, his mouth going suddenly very dry. He knew a lot of stories about youkai going feral, and it never was pretty. And now his friends were cringing and telling him he had gone insane with blood lust. A part of him was wondering why he was still alive and not purified. There were eight mikos around him, he could feel their auras - none of which were hostile, but they were wary and tense. He looked at his hands - his claws were clean, but his imagination painted them vivid, blood red.
"You attacked the Bellflowers. And the park in general," Sango continued. "Before Miroku and I called for support from the Shrine you already had torn several more people to pieces, including a pair of lightning youkai and a few mikos. Your youki was so strong, I could see it, even with my weak reiki," she added. It was no secret Sango was a very weak spiritual power user, but she made up for it in different skills. "We were just staring, kneeling beside Kagome's barrier. There was no stopping you, not without at least a few strong mikos and youkai with equal youki to hold you down. And when Mama arrived, you were already gone, chasing some of the Bellflowers. We tried to track you down before someone else could, but we couldn't find you. Kouga lost you scent, we couldn't pick up your youki..." Sango shrugged. "So we called Shippou."
"What do you plan to do to me?" Inuyasha asked faintly, looking to the old miko sitting upon her cushion and gazing down at him. The decision was hers - a feral youkai was usually killed on the spot, but one who reversed back could face a different fate. Being sealed for eternity was one of the kinder ways to deal with a person who woke up from darkness to see that they killed multiple innocent people - it was a simple way to ease that person's mind, and make sure they didn't go feral again.
Honestly, it scared him to think he might be sealed.
Kaede was silent for several long moments, as were the other members of the family. Inuyasha couldn't help himself. He looked behind her to gaze upon Kagome's face.
At least she was safe.
A/N: Oh, no, what's going to happen now? Only one chapter left!