Shikuro: A Caribbean Fairy Tale

by Inuma Asahi De

Inuyasha was as bad as pirates came, according to his legend. Kagome was a woman of propriety, destined to marry for her family's honor when all she wanted was to live on the sea. What happens when their eyes meet by chance or perhaps by daring fate?

106. The Truth and Nothing But

Blanket Disclaimer: The writer does not own any characters created by Rumiko Takahashi but like everyone else wishes she did. All original characters or concepts are the author Inuma Asahi De's (with the exception of historical figures).

Chapter One Hundred and Six

The Truth and Nothing But

Kagome's eyes opened slowly as consciousness came back to her. Carefully she blinked and then frowned. There was something wet and cold on her face, sliding down her cheek and brushing against her lips. She winced from the feel of it and tried to lift up her hand to brush it off but her fingers felt heavy like lead. She grimaced and forced the fingers of the hand to move, barely flinching as the feel of dirt and ice reached their tips as if she had expected such a thing to happen. With great effort, she pulled the hand from the ground and flopped it upwards towards her face. It landed on her forehead and tingled with numbness as she brushed the coldness away from her delicate skin.

"Snow." She realized vaguely and surprised forced her eyes into focus on the scenery around herself.

Way above her head, swaying methodically back and forth was a dormant cherry tree, its branches soft looking and covered in white. She frowned from the sight and tilted her head slightly to the side as an image began to form in her head, dangerous and nauseating, of another tree in another orchard far away from here. Quickly, she snapped her eyes shut and took deep controlling breaths, her hand (which was still resting on her face, numb) shook. For a moment, she allowed herself to recollect herself, pushing the thoughts of a different tree that bore a different fruit out of her mind.

Inhaling once more deeply, she opened her eyes again this time seeing beyond the branches towards the light that just managed to seep through them. The sun was no longer above her head, it seemed to have dipped at least forty-five degrees downwards into the afternoon and she furrowed her eyebrows amazed by the time change. Finally, she pulled the hand away from her temple, letting it dip down to the ground once more. Her fingers' moved easily enough now but the essence of cold that instantly greeted her brain when they touched the dirt below her made her eyes snap open more firmly. And, for the first time, she became completely aware of how cold she was. Her hands were freezing and her legs and her arms and her neck and her feet. Everything felt unbelievably cold.

Immediately, she began to shiver and without another thought she threw her body upwards, forcing herself to sit up. A wave of snow fell from her shoulders and chest the second she righted herself, the thick white blanket landing on her lap. She gasped in surprise as her clothes yanked against her skin, soaked through by the snow melting against her body heat. Her hands sprang up and pulled tight against her arms as her teeth chattered together.

"How-w-w," She closed her eyes and forced her body to calm before speaking again. "Long was I—arg—gone?" She whispered as she stared at the pile of snow in her lap as if she were seeing a snake and not just safe white ice. "It's never tak-k-en that long t-to get back before."

"You had a lot to see this time."

The voice was soft and sweet as it hit her ears, warming her body in an odd way she couldn't explain. She pulled her eyes away from the nothingness before her and within seconds found the face of someone she should have always known. "Naraku."

The boy looked back at her with sad dark eyes that seemed endless in their intensity as if they understood the melancholy of every man who's ever felt pain in his heart or life. "Now you know." The words hung in the air for countless minutes before the child looked down at the ground, his little body so dark against the whiteness that he almost glowed. "I'm scared." He finally whispered, the sound of his voice tragic in the little clearing. "I just—I," He hiccupped and drug his eyes from the ground to look at Kagome. "I want my mom."

Kagome felt her heart break in her chest as she stared at the tears prickling the corner of his eyes. "You can—you can go to her." She whispered softly, her knowledge of the spirit world and how it worked telling her that a ghost can be reunited with their loved ones once they left the earthly realm. "You just—have to let go of this life."

"I can't." He shook his head slowly and his little chest quaked with a barely contained sob. "I'm stuck—stuck—stuck!"

The young girl frowned at his words, her grey eyes swirling with worry. "What do you mean?" She asked even as her mind processed exactly what he meant.

He raised up his eyes and the depth of sadness within them made her heart nearly break in two. "The jewel won't let-t me go," His voice cracked a little as he spoke. "It holds me like a hostage—," He looked down and his expression went completely blank. "Because—it knows you won't destroy it," He stopped speaking his eyes darkening as he stared at her, waiting with such intensity that she shivered but not from cold. "As long as it has me."

Her stomach began to sink as her eyes widened with understanding that made her dizzy. A lump formed in her throat that was impossible to swallow and she shook her head slowly back and forth as if her denial could make it any less true.

"To destroy one is to destroy both." He whispered cryptically just as his body began to morph right before her very eyes, becoming transparent. "And I," The dark face lightened and the eyes turned almost grey in that one last moment. "Don't want to be destroyed." The body became more and more translucent even as the eyes became more solid, more firm, more grey. "I just—want to be with my mom—please—please Kagome," He said her name as if it were a prayer. "I want my mom." The words dropped into the clearing just as his body seemed to dissolve, the haunting grey eyes vanishing as if they had never existed.

The young miko stayed on her knees unable to move as she stared at the spot the child had stood only moments before. Her mind reeled from his words, images from his life replaying in her head like a vicious play only performed in hell. The image of his mother, swaying back and forth, back and forth, as the bloody hands of Mrs. Morgan gleamed in the sunlight danced around her memory. The fierceness of Kaede's one blue eye jumped into her mind, extinguishing the previous image and she gasped as the cool blueness seemed to look straight into her soul, mocking her.

"She," Kagome felt anger begin to well in her heart as Naraku's words accompanied by that deadly blue eyes made her heart pound. "She did this!" She growled and nearly snarled, an instinct she didn't even know she had swelling within her. "Kaede!" The name jumped from her mouth with pure animosity weighing down her lips as she snapped her eyes shut and hit the ground with a clenched fist.

The name echoed all around the clearing and then back into Kagome's ears, hitting her like a ton of bricks. Her eyes snapped opened and she gasped as her hands moved without thought, searching for something she had nearly forgotten was in her possession. Small and white and utterly insignificant was a letter sent by none other than that very woman.

"Where is it?" She began to panic as her hands jumped from sleeves to the inside of her shirt, to her pants, probing and reaching for something that might have every answer but the letter was not on her person. "Damn it!" She cursed and with desperation began to look all around her, lifting up her body to look underneath herself and gazing out farther away when that search came back fruitless. "It's white—it—it must blend in with the snow." She finally concluded and, without caring about the damage it might cause her hands, began frantically shoveling the snow away from her. She turned it over and over again in her hands, her eyes snapping this way and that as she looked for the letter, which Kaede had sent her.

Just as she was about to give up hope of ever finding the little piece of white parchment, her fingers brushed against something rough and wet that was not snow. Without delay, she pushed the snow out of her way, her eyes honing in on the possible artifact. Sure enough, the edge of slightly off white paper caught her eye within seconds and relieved she snatched it up into her waiting fingers. Within moments, she had the parchment opened once more, her eyes searching it for any text that might have been missed earlier but she saw nothing.

"It's blank?" She wondered and not needing to think on that realization any more than necessary began to channel her power. It swirled within her easily and with little to no thought she pushed it into the letter just as she had before. The blank surface shimmered as her power was pushed into it and the miko held her breath with anticipation but nothing happened. "That's—not right," She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Why won't you work?" She started to shake the letter out of frustration but realized quickly the move was pointless. "How anti-climatic," She huffed and slumped down into the disturbed snow. "All the bloody letter said was—Everything you know is wrong—well you got that right!"

"Dear Kagome."

Kagome immediately jumped out of her skin as the sound of Kaede Cumming's voice hit her ears with a thunderous jolt. She whirled her head around, her wild grey eyes snapping opened even wider as she saw the very woman in question standing right behind her. One black eye and one bright blue eye stared at her carefully, watching her and not watching her all at once. "Kaede?"

"I'm sorry I waited so long to truly speak to you." The woman whispered, her lips barely moving as she formed the words. "Maybe I should have told you sooner but—," A strange regretful smile formed on those lips that soon slipped away and turned into a dark relentless frown. "I guess everyone makes mistakes."

The younger girl shook her head baffled as she looked at Kaede Cummings seeing her with eyes that both literally and figuratively saw through the ghostly body. "You—you," She didn't even bother to think about the strangeness of seeing a ghost that she had also known in life and she didn't bother to make the connection this apparition was not even really looking at her. She could only look at Kaede and for the first time see everything that the woman really was. "You're the reason behind all this!"

"By now," Kaede spoke as if she hadn't heard Kagome and the actual truth of everything was, she hadn't. "You have realized my part in all of this." The woman didn't even blink as she spoke, the cool Shinigami eye staring without blinking into nothingness. "My insurmountable sins, so to speak."

Kagome pushed herself up to her feet in one great motion, her hands not even feeling the dirt and twigs that stabbed at them from underneath the snow. "You—put a shard of that god forsaken jewel in a little boy!" She felt tears spring to her eyes and her head begin to pound a bit from the accusation. "You're the reason he—he became a monster—," She snapped as she stepped forward towards the woman, the sound of her own blood rushing through her head making her growl. "He never—he didn't deserve it—," Images from Naraku's life flashed into her mind, his mother's beautiful smile, the blood on the Mistress' claws. "None of it was his fault!"

The image of Kaede across from her didn't say a word in response to what Kagome had just screamed, however. Instead, the old woman merely continued to frown as if she knew, yet did not know, what Kagome had just said. "You know by now," She whispered the words softly and looked away from Kagome at the dirt and snow she could not see below her feet. "That it was I," She finally blinked, that haunting blue eye disappearing from sight for one beautiful moment before it reappeared again. "Who created Naraku."

"Who the hell does something like that!?" Kagome shouted and her voice cracked from the volume of the sound, causing a catastrophic echo in the clearing around her. Even as she shouted though, she knew subconsciously that Kaede could not actually hear her. This woman in front of her was no better than a shadow; a shadow of nothing.

"Why?" The question echoed out of Kaede's mouth as she raised her head back up, that blue eye seeming to stare at Kagome as if judging her and yet not all at once. "That is one of the reasons, I imprinted this for you," She stopped and a strange smile formed on her face before she glanced away from Kagome and then back again. "You don't know what that means." She hesitated for a moment before adding. "Or better yet, what I am."

Kagome's felt her breath hitch in her throat as a sinking feeling filled her up and washed away her anger for just a second.

"Shi-ni-ga-mi." The woman said the word slowly, pronouncing each sacred syllable with careful ease. "Death god." She laughed in the oddest of ways her blue eye showing mirth and her brown one looking as if it was about to cry. "That's ironic—I'm telling you I'm a death god and by the time you watch this—," She laughed a bit more but the sound that came out of her mouth was not a happy one. "I'll actually be dead."

Kagome froze, her mind completely shutting down at the woman's words.

"If it makes you feel any better," She continued on allowing her words to pass as if they meant nothing. "Naraku will be the one to do it—in a way."

Standing in the frigid air Kagome shook, her lips trembling as she looked away from the woman. "Dead?" She shook he head, her mind reeling even as her spiritual senses reached out into the world, feeling every soul she had ever known and realizing that she could no longer connect with Kaede's own.

"I deserved it though," Her voice was but a whisper on the wind, regret and self-hatred commanding every tone it made. "I deserved what I got—for what I did."

"Why?" She whispered the word, desperation in her voice as she looked at the ghost in front of her; unsure if she was asking why Kaede deserved or why Kaede had shoved a shikon jewel into Naraku. "Why?" She asked again as she brought a cold hand up to her temple where her headache had decided to amplify itself until she felt as if someone had stepped on her head or, better yet, tried to pry it off of her body.

"Long ago," Kaede started softly, her eyes never leaving the mixture of snow and dirt below her feet. "There were two sisters whose parents were dead," She paused for a moment as if to debate whether to continue or not, finally she seemed to decide that holding back wasn't worth it at all. "Their father left them a tavern to run and the older sister did her best to run it and raise the younger as well."

"You—," Kagome filled in not bothering to hold back her thoughts just because Kaede was not really there. "—and Kikyo." The name felt strange as it left her mouth but she ignored it entirely.

Kaede didn't acknowledge Kagome's words as she looked down at the ground her white hair falling over one old hunched shoulder. "The older sister worked hard," She lifted her head and looked Kagome directly in the eye. "She fought off men who meant to harm both her and the little girl—," She narrowed her eyes as she spoke as if some great secret was about to leave her lips. "But some were far too strong."

Kagome's eyes widened at the words as she looked Kaede straight in the eyes, the crease in the old woman's brow somehow making her feel vulnerable.

"Nothing stopped the sister though," The old woman continued on allowing the hidden meaning behind her words to stay hidden if that was the will of the story. "And one day—a different man came to the tavern," Her face instantly soften, her eyes becoming molten with reminiscence. "He was kind and gentle and he fought off all the men who had once come to harm her."

"Inuyasha." Kagome felt the name touch her soul, a feather light realization that her husband was the man Kaede was referring to.

"But just as he came he left—he was a man of the sea and that's what they do." The old woman's lips stopped moving for a moment and she finally looked away from Kagome and out into the world. "And the older sister—without his protection—." Her voice died in her throat and before Kagome's very eyes she began to change.

The wrinkle's that seemed to line every corner of her face tightened or simply disappeared. The lips that had been ashen with old age turned bright red with youth and vitality that had not been there in years. The grey hairs on her head that had matched the snow only moments before shifted, becoming black. The wind caught a hold of each strand tossing them all around Kaede's head as the girl lifted her eyes back up to Kagome, revealing soft brown irises washed with tears.

"She died." Her voice broke, the high pitch squeak of a little girl breaking making Kagome's heart tighten considerably. "My sister died and—," She broke as she spoke, her voice falling apart and shattering on the ground. "I was all alone."

Kagome took a step back in the snow, her feet scrapping against the dirt hidden underneath as she stared at the tiny girl now in front of her. She was no more than ten and so skinny that she looked as if she hadn't eaten in weeks. Her back, that only moments before had been hunched with age, was now hunched with fear as she wrapped her arms around herself and hiccupped.

"He came back—he came and I thought he would stay," The girl fell forward onto her knees but as a ghost they could not actually touch the ground and her skin could not actually be damaged by the rocks and earth. "But he left!" She screamed, the little girl crying clutching her stomach so tightly that she looked as if she could not breath, screamed. "He left me on my own—I was alone and scared!" She finished, the world around her seeming to tremble from the violence of what she was saying. "I hated him!"

The young miko nearly tripped over her own feet as the phrase seemed to rush at her, hitting her square in the chest with such violence that the wind was knocked out of her.

"I wanted to find him—to tell him how much I hated him," The girl continued to cry, the tears rushing down her cheeks in hot salty waves. "I wanted to kill him!"

Kagome fell to her knees as the girl's feelings began to transfer into the miko's heart allowing Kagome to know what should have never been known. Deep in her mind's eye, she could see that little girl standing in front of a tavern all alone, no friends or family surrounding her, blank faces from blank people walking by without bothering to turn and question a twelve year old girl all alone. She could see men grabbing at a now teenage arm yanking her this way and that, sneering when she refused, paying her when she finally started to agree. She could see a bed and blood stains mixing with tears and a fourteen year old laying on her side holding her stomach as she cried. She could see the darkness and feel the sickness of waking up drunk.

She could see the hatred, the animosity that flowed through Kaede's veins as she stared over someone's shoulder at the ceiling allowing her mind to drift away until all she could see was Inuyasha's younger back as he disappeared from sight, leaving her nearly naked and afraid. She could even hear Inuyasha's voice as he took the jewel from Kaede's hands and slipped it over his neck—the jewel that would eventually make Kikyo and by extension Kaede disappear entirely from his memory for almost fifty years.

"You have family here, right?" He asked as he looked down at her carefully.

"Yes." The little girl answered and at the time it had been the truth, she was positive she had an uncle living nearby.

"Okay." He nodded and turned away, his shoulder blades creasing and his back hunching for just a singular minute before he straightened not allowing any emotion to show.

And there she stood, her eyes following his broad shoulders while she held back tears. She wanted to call to him, to yell and kick, but she couldn't. Her mouth wouldn't open and her heart wouldn't stop pounding in her chest long enough to allow her to really think.

"It was his fault—," Kaede hiccupped snapping Kagome back into her brief release from reality. "His fault—," She sniffled as the words became less intense but more broken. "His—," She looked up above Kagome's head towards something completely unknown. "I had to find him." She whispered and the body began to change again, the little girl aging, wrinkles forming. "I made a deal with a Shinigami—I could find him," She closed her brown eyes and by the time she opened them again, one was piercing blue. "With this eye—but there was price—a price."

Kagome could feel the dirt underneath her knees scraping at the flesh there as her stomach turned with nausea. Her hands wet with both sweat and snow as she dug her fingers into the ground. "Kaede—." She thought but no other thoughts followed as she shook her head slowly from left to right, the clammy sensation that now touched her skin pulling at her neck as she moved. "You—the price."

"You know the price Kagome," Kaede finished as her hair turned white again and her body hunched from age once more. "And I know—I was wrong to pay it." She inhaled deeply before sighing with such force that her body almost seemed to deflate. "The eye showed me this place—Nippon—to this day I don't know why it showed me here—he wasn't here." She stopped and, almost as if she could see the orchard whispered smiled. "But Sesshoumaru was—he told me the truth and I realized instantly what I had done." Her smile left and her face hardened with determination as she looked back towards Kagome without actually knowing where the girl was. "And that I had to fix it."

The wind blew slowly around both of them but it didn't catch Kaede's hair, the image not having enough depth to actually be touched. Kagome's hair, on the other hand, blew around her face, whispering against her cheeks as if to offer a soothing touch. She didn't bother to move it when it hit her eyes and she didn't bother to blink when it brushed against them uncomfortably. "You knew Sesshoumaru—?"

"Everything you know is wrong," Kaede continued on her eyes closing as she repeated those first fated lines of the letter. "What Izayoi told you—," She paused and once more opened her eyes, the blue Shinigami one, for the first time, shinning with something Kagome could barely believe she had actually seen: compassion. "You can't—you can't destroy him—you heard it from him yourself." She reached out and even though she was not real, just the faint impression of someone who had once been alive, she pleaded with Kagome with that hand, drawing the girl into the pain inside her very heart with it. "Please—fix my mistakes, Kagome." An actual tear dripped from her brown eye and her lips drew low with true anguish. "Save him."

"But how?" Kagome heard her own voice enter the clearing, confused, wanting guidance but knowing she would get none.

"Save him," Kaede whispered one more time as her hand dipped downwards and, quite suddenly, disappeared completely. "Kagome—not the monster that killed your father and me but the child trapped there now."

Her name barely reached her ears and with wide panicked eyes she shot to her feet looking everywhere for the woman who had only moments before been right in front of her. The translucent figure was gone, all that was left a crumbled piece of parchment on the ground. Kagome stared at that soft unassuming bit of paper and gasped when it suddenly lit, destroying itself for god. She thought to rush for it, to grab it and save it but her hands didn't move, they didn't want to move. Instead, Kagome O'loinsigh simply watched as the snow melted around the black ash of what was her only connection to Kaede Cummings.

The black remains smoldered as the wind hit them and Kagome swallowed hard in fear of the unknown and known they represented. "What do I do?" She asked herself as her head spin more than it ever had, turning and whirling until reality seemed to come crashing down all around her.

She could see Naraku as Kaede held him down shoving the jewel into his chest. She could see Kaede looking over the shoulder of the man who paid her to lie still. She could see Inuyasha's back as he walked away. She could see Naraku as his father held onto the body of the woman he loved while he screamed at the one he had married. She could see the beautiful face of that mother, pale and covered in blood; a dark contrast to the actual darker face. She could feel hands as they crept around her grazing her shoulders in what should have been a sensual way but was identical to what she had felt when she channeled Sango.

She snapped her eyes shut as the confusion weighed on her. "Who's right?" She asked herself as the images of Naraku's life continued to wind themselves through her every thought. "Who's wrong?" She felt her knees begin to buckle but she didn't fall as she saw Kaede as a little girl standing in front of that giant tavern all alone. "Sesshoumaru knows Kaede—Rin—too?" She shook her head fiercely back and forth as a lump formed in her throat. "What do I do?" She asked herself again as Izayoi's face appeared out of nowhere in her head, those light brown eyes staring at her with determination.

"If you do nothing," Her lips moved forcefully, penetrating and annihilating every other thought that was in her head in that moment. "Inuyasha dies."

Kagome stumbled backwards and blinked a thousand times until the woman disappeared; a dangerous illusion. "Oh god." She shook her head and tried hard not to cry. "Oh god."

"Kagome!"

She jumped nearly out of her skin as a far louder version of her name rocked her back and forth dangerously. Whipping her head around she nearly snarled from the sound but froze when she saw who it was coming for her. "Rin?" Her eyebrows knitted as the timing of it all made her nearly fall back down, not on her knees but flat on her ass. If Rin had been one second quicker, she might have known.

"Kagome," The half demon smiled for only a moment upon seeing the other woman. "Thank god," She came to a quick stop upon reaching Kagome's side and without hesitation reached for Kagome's cold wet arm. "Hurry."

"What," Kagome looked down at the death grip and narrowed her eyebrows even as Rin yanked on her arm, dragging her away from her spot. "Rin!" She protested as she was dragged through the snow, her eyes going wide from the force the half demon was exerting. "What happened?"

Rin stopped for only a second, turning her large eyes towards Kagome and blinking once. Her brown irises, with the little flecks of silver and gold blinked only once before Kagome knew exactly what was wrong.

-break-

Blackness, soul consuming in its intensity greeted him as he began to come back to life. He felt as if he were swimming in an unrelenting ocean of darkness, his body weighted down by waves and turbulent suffocating pressure that pushed and yanked at his limbs from every direction. He tried to swim up, to push off the shackles that were yanking him under that chaotic water but the harder he tried, the more smothered by it he felt. Panic began to jump up in his throat and despite knowing he was deep underneath the swell, he tried to kick, to move furiously.

The water felt strange against his hands as he tried to pull himself to the surface. It was almost thick somehow and it didn't feel wet, just cold, just— "Not right." The sound of his voice hit his ears but it was distant and far away as the bizarre almost soft water floated through his fingers. He thrashed against the oddness of it and inhaled deeply, expecting to drawn from the action and yet he didn't. "Not water—not water," He mumbled as he suddenly felt a hand brush against his shoulder, applying pressure and making him snarl in warming. "Don't touch me!"

"Inuyasha!"

He froze (whether he had actually been moving or just imagining it irrelevant), Kagome's voice sweet and soft in his ears making him stop. The hand on his shoulder applied more pressure but this time sweet and purposeful.

"Inuyasha!"

The name rang through his ears again and he felt himself beginning to sink back down, the water feeling neither consuming nor dangerous as he listened to her say his name. "My name—she says my name—and only my name."

"It's okay." She whispered to him again, a feather light sound just out of reach somewhere above the water which was pulling him willingly down, farther and farther into a safer darkness. "—I'm here—I'm here." It repeated and for him it became the sound of everything beautiful in the world; the sound of everything he would ever love, had ever loved. "I'm always here."

"Kagome." His subconscious whispered her name and his lips just barely moved in reality for Kagome to see before he finally sank completely back into the darkness. But what had been terrifying the first time, soul consuming even, was now warm and sweet. The darkness had become her embrace and in it, he didn't mind going back to sleep if only for another moment.

Kagome smiled faintly to herself as she watched Inuyasha drift back off for what felt like the millionth time in the past few days he had been unconscious. Her soft grey eyes blinked as she leaned over his still form on the futon, her breath coming in soft whispers of sound as she tried to control herself. Finally, she had to lean back, a hand reaching up to brush at a tear that was already taking up residence on her cheek. "He's okay," She told herself but couldn't stop the sniffle that followed immediately after. "He's breathing—he's—well he's breathing and that's something." She tried to laugh but the sound turned into a hiccup as she looked down at his prone form, so strange against the backdrop of the white futon.

Outside, the birds were chirping as they hopped upon branches of snow covered cherry trees before fluttering away in a flurry of feathers and sound. Shippo and his new little friend's voices drifted into those trees as they played, the boy finally getting to be just that, a boy. Distantly, even the crying of the twins hit the air, the boys voicing their displeasure over some trivial infant necessity. Sango's voice followed, carrying a soft song in Italian that her mother had probably sang for her. They were all the sounds of life, of happiness, and of a proper world just outside of this one frozen room. The young wife wasn't aware of any single part of that outside world, her eyes focused only on her husband who was now, once more, calm on the futon. This was her world at the moment and that one was a world, which Kagome was not and could not be part of until this world awoke.

"I hate this—you should know I hate this." She inhaled deeply before leaning back once more, reaching for the book that she had been reading but not bringing it up to her face to see. "I'm not the one who should be—sitting next to the bed—futon—whatever." She told his still form as she placed the book in her lap without really seeing it. "The roles are reversed—me worrying and you the one knocked out—that's just—well—downright inconsiderate, Inuyasha." She tried to sound angry, hurt, anything but upset, but it was impossible. "Neither of us—neither of us should be like this, stuck in a be—arug—futon, drifting in and out of consciousness. We're too strong now for sh—," She caught herself before she could actually cuss, the lady in her coming out for a moment. "We're too strong for that." She glanced towards the sleeping face of Inuyasha her eyes watering even more as she took in the strangeness of his currently very human features.

His hair was sprayed out underneath him, matted slightly to his sweaty forehead, the black strands making it apparent that he was very pale compared to even her. It seemed that when those very strands were silver, it made him look more tan than he actually was. Slowly, Kagome reached out with one hand, her fingertips barely brushing the bangs away from his face revealing his relaxed eyes closed off from the world. Abruptly, she stopped breathing as she looked into that face, her heartbeat picking up in her chest as she followed the line of his nose away from his eyes, towards the high cheek bones and down further still to his slightly parted lips. They were just barely colored, a soft almost peach color that looked so inviting she could barely resist the urge to bend down and kiss them.

"Maybe if I did," She spoke just to herself as she ran her fingers further down his face towards the place his very human ears rested oddly. "You would wake up—and kiss me back—."

He groaned suddenly from the sound of her voice and she jumped, the book in her lap falling to the floor with a slight bang. Sitting nearly ready to spring for anything he might need, she waited. But he settled once more within seconds and she sighed and reached for the book that had fallen. The leather of the volume was cool in her hand as she drew it back to her lap.

"I just wish there was something I could do." She told him as she looked down but not at the book, at her hands.

She had tried for hours the day before and the day before that to use her power to help him but nothing worked. Rin had told her it was because Inuyasha was not sick like Sango or even naturally unconscious. His body was simply tired from the transformation from demon to human and needed rest. When his body was ready, it would wake up on its own and hopefully, transform back.

"I—," The word caught in her throat and she stopped speaking at least out loud. "I feel so helpless." She closed her eyes and fought back the pain in her heart but it was too intense to ignore and reminded her of a worse pain.

She leaned back and looked towards the room around her without really seeing it. Instead she saw trees, endless rows of trees and the hot Jamaican sun. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced her stomach to stop flip flopping as she tried to shove the disturbing memories down. It had been three days but it felt like months since she had learned that undeniable truth.

Her eyes fluttered opened and she sighed heavily. "What am I going to do?" She asked herself as that little boy, so innocent and young, jumped into her head his dark eyes become lighter and lighter as he silently pleaded with her. "Can I kill him? No—," She shook her head and looked down towards Inuyasha wishing he would open his eyes and become her counsel as he had always been. "Would you know what to do?" She sighed again knowing that he probably didn't, this was her fight but then again, Rin had told her that Inuyasha and herself shared the same power; his only uncontrolled. "Maybe there is hope. Maybe," She whispered as she looked down at him. "Maybe—you and I—together?"

The book became heavier in her hands then as if to remind her that it had been there in the first place. She smiled at the cover allowing her thoughts to simply drift away and with careful fingers opened it to the previous page she had been reading from. Even if it seemed pointless to read out loud to a sleeping figure, she knew that more than once he had done the same for her. It was a sweet and honestly comforting gesture that she would now perform for him.

"I'll pick up where we left off." She told him as she looked down at the strange writing. "The Iliad—," She laughed oddly even though the sound was tense. "It's funny—all the scholars of the world are going to hate me." She mused as she turned a page in the book, pausing from reading out loud. "I touched the book—and I learned its language." She giggled slightly but there was little mirth in the sound. "It is kind of nice to be able to read it out of translation." She ran her fingers down the page and smiled a bit to herself. "Still—I miss your interesting liberties you take when you translate." She spoke dryly and rolled her eyes not noticing the way he suddenly had shifted or the fact that the eyelids were just starting to open. "Seriously—Achilles didn't call Paris an asshole—you added that in!"

She giggled as she looked down towards her husband just in time to see the faint slit of eyes and irises. Her jaw fell and her heart stopped beating as his head turned towards the side to look at her, his lips moving so slowly she barely registered the fact he was speaking. "I added it—,"He spoke and his voice was hoarse from disuse but loud to her eager ears. "Because he is an asshole."

She dropped the book from her own shock as those deep brown eyes opened fully and looked straight into her own grey ones practically catching her soul on fire. "You're awake!" She cried out and tears did spring to her eyes as she reached for his face, touching cheeks that had once burned with fever but now seemed cool. "How do you feel!?"

"Ow." He groaned and attempted to raise his hands up to cover his ears but came in contact with nothing. He didn't have time or the mental capacity at the moment to process the strangeness of not feeling his normal ears. "Not so loud."

She blushed slightly and pulled her hand away as she tried not to simply grab him and hug him and kiss him with relief. "How," She spoke quieter this time, her words soft as she failed to resist the urge to at least brush some of the soft dark locks out of his face. "Do you feel?

"Like I was on the losing side of a drunkard's fight." He answered and rubbed at his eyes as his head continued to pound. "How much did we drink?" He asked, the shock of the question keeping Kagome from answering as she watched him rub those dark eyes. "Argh—I thought we had a deal—," He groaned and winced as his head continued to pound from the effort it took to speak. "You monitor how much I drink, I argue, you hit me over the head, I listen. End result no pounding headache for me the next day." He pulled his hands away from his eyes and sent her a crocked smile. "You agreed that was one of your wifely duties—," He paused for a second and the crocked smile became even more crocked. "Among other things."

Kagome was far too shocked by his words to really process what he had said but she knew his facial expressions well enough that she laughed adequately so he was not suspicious. "Inuy—," Her lip wobbled as worry began to sit in her stomach and the smile that had come with the laughter began to fade. "There's—I—."

"Were you reading?" He interrupted not rudely but simply because he couldn't seem to focus on any one thing. His eyes turned towards the book in her lap and he clicked his tongue. "Isn't that my—Iliad?"

"Yes." She answered the question, allowing him to guide the conversation at least until she knew how to tell him; how to admit the truth. "Volume one."

He glanced at the volume of the book and frowned. "That's Greek."

"I know—," She tried to smile, the expression strained but him too out of it to notice. "All the scholars of the world are going to hate me."

He grinned lopsidedly and reached out a hand towards her, brushing his fingers against her knee for just a second. "That's what you were saying when I woke up." He mumbled, recalling the vague sound of her voice barely registering in his brain. "Touch a book become fluent, huh?" He growled playfully and reached out his fingers just enough to make contact with her warmth once more. "That makes me kind of useless."

"Never—I've got plenty of uses for you." She joked although her eyes looked dull to him as if the joke hadn't come from her heart but instead had simply slipped from her lips without any real thought.

"Yeah," He played along anyway too tired to really debate about the tone of her eyes. "Like what?" He tried to send her a sexy smile but it didn't quite work with his tired eyes in the background.

"There's that," She whispered to him, the affection that finally touched her eyes making him smile legitimately, albeit halfheartedly. "And I also love it," She glanced at the book briefly and then up to him, her delicate pink lips parting slowly, sensually as she spoke. "When you read to me."

The half hearted smile on his face fell at her words, replaced by an old look that had made her fall in love with him almost a year and a half before. Soft and boyish and deliciously charming, he smiled at her sweetly, his love for her brimming in his wrong colored eyes. "For you," The brown eyes that should have been gold danced in the morning light. "I'd read forever and ever."

She laughed and the sound was real in that moment. "You'd lose your voice." She trailed off as the very real thing he had lost hit her square in the stomach. The smile left her face instantly and she bit her lip trying to control herself but it seemed almost impossible to stop the words that were beginning to creep into her throat. She opened her mouth but no sound came out except a little and obvious squeak. Clearing her throat looked at him the worry in her eyes absolutely transparent for the man in front of her.

Sensing that something was desperately wrong, Inuyasha pushed himself up on his forearms, his body aching in a way that made him actually wince before narrowing his eyebrows in concern. "That's odd—," He thought to himself as his shoulders began to ache and his back as well as his forearms and surprisingly knees. "That's not—the aches you get from drinking too much." He blinked a few times allowing his arms to give out a little bit and lay back once more on the futon before he looked towards Kagome who was biting her lip. "Kagome?"

"Um," She cleared her throat again and tried to keep her voice from shaking. "Inuyasha—I." She stared into those perplexed eyes, her expression teeming with apprehension that made her mate's stomach knot. "I have to tell him—how do I tell him—just—just say something, anything!" She closed her eyes as her thoughts screamed at her, willing her to say something. "You," She tried to find something to add onto the sentence, her eyes opening slowly and coming into contact with his own confused brown ones. She stared at those brown eyes for several seconds, the oddness of them making her slowly shake her head back and forth. "That's not right."

He flinched at her words completely confused, thought after possible thought rushing through his head as he tried to figure out what was wrong with her. "Are you," He pushed himself up onto one arm reaching for her slightly. "Okay?" He whispered and somewhere in the back of his mind he began to panic. "Did she—figure out what I did?" He asked himself as he milled over what she could possibly mean by, 'that's not right.' "Maybe she knows—the—the—." He glanced down without realizing it at her stomach and, as instinct told him too, inhaled and froze. He narrowed his eyes instantly and within a millisecond was up, his back straight as the thick blanket that covered him fell around his waist. "I can't smell you." It was a panicking statement, not even close to a question.

Kagome bit her lip harder and only because of her own distraction didn't realize that he had not been referring to her but to something unknown inside of her. Hesitantly, she shook her head side to side as her heart broke at his words. "Inuyasha—," She pursed her lips, reached forward and, not knowing what else to do, grabbed for a lock of his hair pulling it into view. "Look."

The silky black strands stood out against her tanish skin as she brought it within view of those oddly colored eyes. He turned his head slowly so as to see exactly what she was pointing out to him and, for a moment, he appeared not to see what she was holding. He stared, wild eyed at the strands, his mind attempting to process them but unable to focus at all. "Black—," He whispered to himself and his breath caught in his throat as he followed the strand expecting it to be Kagome's hair even though he knew she wasn't holding her own beautiful strands—hers weren't this long. "My hair's," He stopped and pulled his eyes away from the strands and towards his wife. "Black."

The young miko didn't let go of the strands as she nodded her head once. "You're human."

As if he had been hit by some great crashing wave, Inuyasha's hand snapped up to grab that hair as everything came flooding back to him. He remembered the fight with Sesshoumaru, the way his brother had yelled and taunted, he remembered the feel of his demonic energy hurtling through his body and the charred edges of Sesshoumaru's clothes, which had followed.

Quickly, the images were replaced by a forest, the two roads diverging in the wood, the feeling of being pulled towards one path, the one which had the better claim to his senses, intoxicating. Everything sped up from there, the moving trees, the tiny shrine, Sesshoumaru awakening the guardian dog at the door. He remembered those doors opening and then, the shock of seeing his father's golden eyes in an ancient ink painting. Those haunting eyes seemed to stare at him even now as if questioning everything he had done in his entire life. They continued to stare as he remembered Sesshoumaru throwing that unnamed sword towards him his hands touching it for the first time when he caught it. He could feel the pain of his every nerve ending seeming to light up as the sword yanked and tugged at a store of energy he didn't even know lay within him. And, he remembered the feeling of the world exploding into horrible pain before becoming nothing but darkness.

Shaking his head, he looked now at that seemingly insignificant, perhaps even natural, wisp of hair in his hands. Images of his mother popped into his head unasked for and he winced as he remembered the slight brown tent of her own hair, his darker by comparison. "My mother's hair." The thought was so strange to him that he gulped and had to force himself to control his breathing. "I'm human—the sword turned me human." He inhaled sharply and finally allowed the strands to fall from his grip, dropping them as if they were actually on fire. "Holy—I can't be human." He shook his head violently and pushed down every memory from what he assumed was the day before and clutched his fist tightly together. "How long have I been—," He forced himself to speak even as his anger at himself continued to build. "Out?"

"Three days." She supplied softly not bothering to stop when his head snapped up and his mouth opened slightly with shock. "You were in and out of consciousness." She told him as she looked away from those shocked eyes towards the book on her lap. "Sometimes you could eat and Sesshoumaru had to—well—," She glanced up at him and a blush spread along her cheeks that made Inuyasha raise a confused eyebrow. "You're too heavy for me to lift you up, so he did." She gestured absently to a chamber pot some feet away.

"Shit," He cursed from embarrassment, looking away from her immediately and covering his face with his hands. "How could I be so—so—fucking weak?!" He growled, ripping his hands away from his face and slamming one hard fist on the ground. "Damn it!"

Kagome didn't even jump from the outrage, she could feel it coming off of him in waves way before his fist had connected with the ground. He had every emotion she could think of: shock, confusion, anger, humiliation, and (very distantly) gratitude for her being by his side. She latched onto that emotion and closed her eyes slowly as her mind wandered for just a second back to her own growing conflict. "Kaede—Naraku—they had the same gratitude." She opened her eyes slowly and looked at the half demon turned human before her without seeing him for a moment. "You both had this same feeling: thank you for seeing me; thank you for helping me." She gulped once and tried to breathe even as it became rather difficult. "But—what if I can't?"

The dog demon himself had moved his hands up to his neck and was pulling on the strands of black hair that rested there. "What the hell went wrong?" He asked himself not realizing that his wife, being clairvoyant as she was, could hear his every thought even without trying.

"Sesshoumaru told me that the sword—," She paused waiting for him to look up at her, ignoring the shock on his face as she spoke. "Did this to you."

"I knew that." He snapped and immediately flinched and growled at himself. "I'm sorry." He looked towards her, his whole expression tight as he tried not to growl again. "I—I remember the sword doing that."

Not hindered by his words in the least, Kagome sent him a slight smile. "It's okay—."

"No it's not!" He immediately jumped on her again before actually snarling at himself. "Damn it, stop yelling at her." He cursed and brought a hand up to slap his forehead. "I'm so—damn it—Kagome," He opened his eyes and looked at her only to find an amused expression on her soft features. "I—." He trailed off as he took in her slight chuckle and pleased grin.

"You're adorable." She told him and for what might have been the first time in his life (or at least the second or third where she was concerned) he flushed with embarrassment and some pleasure.

He cleared his throat and straightened himself on the futon, trying to recover some of his dignity even as his wife reached out and touched his hand making him feel hot and his mind feel heady. "I'm not adorable." He spoke firmly this time without placing too much dangerous emotion in his voice even as his fingers intertwined with her own.

"No?" Kagome's tired eyes closed but the smile stayed on her face and her hand gripped his a bit more firmly. "Handsome then." She supplied and opened her eyes slowly, meeting his own brown ones that were already staring at her. "Deliriously handsome."

"I like that." He growled softly this time, the sound strange with his human throat and human abilities. "The great pirate Captain Inuyasha—deliriously handsome—yes that sounds about right."

"Add modest to the end of that—deliriously handsome and modest." Kagome laughed slightly but the amusement in her voice didn't last long as she looked down at their joined hands. Normally, she would have felt the brushing of his claws by now, the slight scrap of their sharp edges, but she felt nothing except menacing human nails. "Rin has a theory," She whispered as she unconsciously leaned closer to him, needing to feel him, wanting to feel that warmth that was simply him, whether he was human or demon. "About why you're human."

"What is it?" Inuyasha asked softly as he leaned closer to her, his head resting against the side of her own. Instinctively he inhaled and instantly regretted it. "I can't smell her at all—," He winced, hating the feeling of weakness that was building up within him. "I can't smell anything."

"Well," Kagome continued on as she allowed herself to sink into him more firmly, loosing herself in his warm side. "Rin trained her human side from a young age, so she knows how to control it." She whispered but not as quietly as she normally would have. Normally, she could have barely moved her lips and he would have heard but not this time, not now. "She said that you've never trained yours, so you don't know how to control that half of yourself."

Inuyasha didn't say anything, only absorbed the information already quite aware that it made perfect sense. "That side of myself—even if I was trained by humans—I never—I never cared to deal with my human side." He felt his grip tighten on Kagome's hand, knowing that he didn't have the strength in this form to hurt her as he did so. "I never thought—it was useful before." He glanced down at Kagome, the sight of her curly hair making him lick his lips. "I didn't even acknowledge it until—it feels like years ago—until that first time I wanted to kiss you."

Hearing his words, Kagome inhaled once deeply and cut off their mental connection, not wanting to pry further even if his memory made her pleased. "You have power—Rin said—within you that's just like mine." She spoke as she released the breath amazed that she had kept her voice so steady. "If he has the same power—and its trained—could that—change things? Two of us, if two work together can we—not die?" She wondered as she leaned away from him ever so slightly and took a good look at those dark eyes and that dark hair. "It's so bizarre—."

"Huh?" He glanced down at her as her voice faded slightly and watched as she looked up at him in return, her irises unnaturally soft.

"It's bizarre," She allowed the words to hang in the air for several seconds before she blinked once slowly and then looked deep into his soul. "That we're the same."

For just a moment his eyes widened as the magnitude of what she had just said sank in. "We're the same." He looked down at her, past the little wispy hairs that crowned her head, to the beautiful curve of her cheek leading to those beautiful grey eyes.

"You and I have," She continued on making eye contact with him as she spoke, brown and grey staring at each other as both minds began to process what she was about to say. "The same energy inside us, the way the sword reacted to your demon proves it."

He blinked and the action broke their eye contact for the barest of moments before it was regained. "We have the same power." He repeated her words and his jaw dropped just a little bit in thought. "You're right, that is bizarre."

"I know." Kagome narrowed her eyes in thought as something about what he said made her mind turn over. "The same power—the power that can stop and, maybe, save—Naraku and us." Her eyes widened just a little bit as her stomach knotted with the possibilities. "Could that be possible?"

Inuyasha licked his lips slowly and glanced towards Kagome's distracted face, not being hindered by it in the least. "So, what did the sword do to me then?" He stopped and grumbled to himself dryly. "I mean," He rolled his eyes, the sight catching Kagome's attention and bringing her out of her thoughts. "Where did my demon energy go?"

"Rin thinks," She pulled her eyes downwards and looked at their joined hands vaguely. "The sword drew the human energy out from hiding within you, dragging it to the surface." She stared at the tip of his thumb, watching as the finger seemed to tap against the back of her hands nervously. "And as it dragged the human out, it pushed the demon down—almost—well—," She scrunched up her nose and looked away from the hand and back towards him. "Into hiding."

"So I'm stuck like this!" Inuyasha didn't mean the words to sound as horrified as they did but he couldn't stop himself. The very thought of remaining human all his life terrified him, even if his whole life might only be a matter of a few days, months maybe.

"I don't know." Kagome answered honestly, her voice almost apologetic as she looked away from him and out into the room around them. "She thinks—your demon might come back."

"Might is the key word in that sentence." Inuyasha hissed and gripped her hand a little tighter needing reassurance.

"That's what I said." Kagome agreed as she forced herself to focus on the room around her, on the light coming through the window, so soft and gentle.

It illuminated the wash basin with a rag hanging over the edge, ready to use, and one of the two swords that had been left in Sesshoumaru's care for the other son. She stared at that sword, her grey eyes filled with wonder. It seemed so insignificant as it leaned against the wall the light from the bright awake world highlighting its every feature. The way its handle was unraveled, the way its sheath seemed chipped in places now, and the way it ever so faintly glowed (something only a trained eye could actually see).

"Tetsusaiga—and Tensaiga, right?" She thought as she studied it, her mind rushing to a man she had met in a land that few would ever see. "Did you actually mean for this to happen, Otou-sama?" She questioned that man, her father-in-law, even though he couldn't hear her. "Did you mean for me to know—that there might be an alternative—an alternative you kept from Izayoi for whatever reason?" She looked towards Inuyasha as the thought finally crossed her mind for the first time. "Should I tell him the truth—like neither of you ever did?"

"Shit." Inuyasha cursed beside her, his grip on her hand intensifying until he finally just let go of her so he wouldn't risk accidently hurting her, human or not. "How the hell am I supposed to protect you like this?" The words rushed out of his mouth as he forced himself to stand, just now noticing the thin pants that were draped over his hips, western in origin and not Nippon. They didn't matter to him though as his mind raced with thoughts that consumed him. "I'm supposed to die for her—to protect her and," He looked down for only a moment, his eyes lighting on her breast and down further towards her hips that hadn't even begun to widen for birth yet. "You."

Still sitting on the ground, her heart reaching out to him, Kagome tried to smile. "You don't have to." She told him, knowing her words were true. She was no longer the girl that had simply cut her hair to run away from home. She was now a woman trained to be both a healer and a murderer (not by her choice though).

"Yes I do—," Inuyasha snorted and turned away from her, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at the closed door of their room. "It's my job." He nodded once firmly as if to reiterate his point (if just to himself) and bit the inside of his cheek. "That's a solid argument." He heard a tiny voice whisper from somewhere deep inside of him. "Shut up!" He yelled back not even bothering to notice that the voice had been familiar if not a little distant.

Kagome narrowed her eyes slightly, partially understanding what he meant but at the same time finding his thinking skewed. Her mind drifted towards her mother-in-law, thoughts and memories swirling into one continual mass of headaches, "And it's my job to die for you." The words rested just on the tip of her tongue but she held them back, forcing herself to close her eyes. "I'm strong enough to die for you." She gulped and shook her head quickly from side to side knowing that was not something she could say out loud, at least, not at the moment. "I can protect myself just fine." She said instead, her words meant to be reassuring.

Inuyasha, however, did not take them as reassuring as he turned and looked at her, his eyes dark and narrowed. "Just because you can doesn't mean you should." He told her firmly his eyes becoming desperate as they looked at her. "I'm the man—it's my job—you shouldn't have to—," He trailed off realizing all the flaws in his argument before Kagome could even say a word. "That's not true and I know it but I can't tell her the real reason—I can't." He looked directly at her stomach, which protected now something he had to protect no matter what happened in the next day, month, or year. Before, he could even begin to contemplate the implications of that safely guarded secret further, however, he lifted his head allowing Kagome's furious grey eyes to meet his own.

The young miko looked furious and he already knew exactly why. "You don't have to always be the one putting yourself in danger you know." She told him firmly, the hair on the back of her neck actually bristling as she looked at him. "I can protect you too—I proved that when we were with your cousin and those mongooses attacked." Her voice was firm in its intensity and she could have sworn, had he been demon, his ears would have pinned back on his skull. "I have to—I won't—I won't let you die!"

He growled slightly and brought a hand up to rub at the back of his neck. "You don't under—," He started to say but stopped himself and winced, his own secret haunting him. "I can't tell her, not yet—just not yet." He licked his lips and pulled his eyes away from her so he wouldn't look down at her still flat stomach, revealing too much of a truth. "It has to be this way." He finally managed to say as he desperately searched for something, anything to add to his sentence to make it seem more legitimate. "It's—well," He felt the word popped into his head with such great force that he blurted it out without thought. "Fate!"

"And what do you know about fate?" Kagome shot back crossing her arms over her chest almost mockingly without thinking. "You can't know what I know." She wanted to say the words out loud but she stopped herself. It wouldn't do any good to say something like that out loud right now.

"I know enough." Inuyasha answered mimicking her stance but from a standing position.

Kagome growled at his posture and his pursed lips and finally jumped up to her feet pointing an accusing finger at him. "Like hell." She cursed as her heart pounded in her chest, a little inkling of fear popping up within her. "I know—I know things," The words flew from her lips before she could stop them. "Things you can't possibly know about fate and death and—and—the whole damn world going to hell."

"Kagome?" His eyes grew wide, startled by the verbosity of her words, especially the blatant curse words that didn't normally come from her lips. "She's been around me too long." He told himself absently even as she poked her finger violently into his chest, not stopping to think about the connotations of what she was saying.

"I know fate—your mother told me all about fate." She threw in his face as she poked his chest harder, the demon (well—human as it were) stepping back with wide eyes as his wife tried to put him in his place. "And how to change it."

"What fate?" He asked as his mind went into overdrive trying to understand what she meant. "What did my mother tell you?" He asked as he stepped forward a little, surprise written on all his features. "And—what change—how change?"

"Me change." Kagome blinked at her own words and how strange they sounded before brushing them off and continuing on with her assault on his chest. "She told me—," The words caught dramatically in her own throat and she paused he finger still jabbed into one of his pecks. "She—she told me."

Inuyasha's eyes went huge at her words and his heart dropped into his chest as he finally put it all together. "She—she knows." A voice deep inside of him whispered the words and they nearly swelled in his throat causing it to shut. "Kagome?"

"I know all about fa—te," Kagome continued on and her voice broke, anger leaving her for some other truth. "She told me—," She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed herself away from him, not able to take the pain of holding him or touching him anymore. "You mother told me," Her eyes opened, watery and beautiful and grey. "You're going to die." And the words left her mouth like teardrops of sound as she dropped her chin to her chest and tried to hold back the real ones in her eyes.

He froze and he stared at her and he felt the lump nearly turn into something far more deadly in his throat. He didn't know what to say at first, there really was nothing to say. What she told him was the truth and that was all there was to it. "I know." He finally managed to whisper and her head shot up the tears like crystals on her cheeks.

"How?"

"Sesshoumaru." He answered as simply as possible as he reached out for her and his fingers brushed against her shoulder, wanting to do so much more than simply brush her covered skin. "He told me—before—the sword and Sango and Miroku, the twins." His voice trailed off for a moment as her eyes widened. "I couldn't tell you!" He covered automatically as he noticed the dangerous quality of her surprised face. "I couldn't—I didn't want you to—."

Kagome nodded her head in perfect understanding, "I did the same thing, after all." She winced at the realization but tried to not let the look actually cross her face.

"There's no changing it Kagome," He almost stopped breathing as he felt the urge grab her and bury his face into her hair. "Maybe, even with a human nose," He thought as he closed his eyes off from her. "I could smell her—the lilies—the sea—and—." He gulped and opened his eyes pushing his thoughts down deep. His heart tightened in his chest and he reached up to cup her cheek with his hand. "I'm going to die," He said it so bluntly that he felt her flinch into his palm. "That's that." He thought to add Sesshoumaru's theory about the sword but his current state and the sword's lack of cooperation stopped him at least for a moment longer.

Kagome reached up and grabbed his hand on her cheek, holding onto it with her tightest grip. "Yes there is!" She fought back as she held that hand firmly already knowing a truth that she felt slipping from her mouth now. "I have to tell him—I have to tell him."

"No there's not!" Inuyasha squeezed his eyes shut in desperation and tried not to growl at her. "You can't change fate—we can't change any of it." He spoke firmly and forced himself to let her continue holding onto his hand even as he felt actual remnants of pain in the appendage. "The sword." The voice cut into him and he opened his eyes surprised. "With the sword," He found himself speaking and for a second it didn't feel like his voice. "We might have a chance but that's it—that's our only hope of me living—that sword that," He motioned towards his human body and snorted. "Did this when I tried to even hold it."

"I kn-ow." She whispered back her voice cracking with the intensity of her own words as she realized she couldn't contain such a secret anymore. It had to come out, it just had to. "And that's why I'm prepared," She paused for just a second allowing what she had just supposed to sink into his mind. "To take your place."

"What!?" His eyes went wide and his stomach sank so fast into his knees that they nearly buckled. He sputtered for a moment, trying to find the words to say but they were gone, he couldn't speak, he couldn't think, he couldn't even believe that he had heard her at all. "I'm asleep," He told himself and her as his head began to spin and the room started to follow it. "Or you're—delusional," He felt his mouth drop open as he stared at the determined face not wanting to believe for even a second that she actually meant what she had said. "Pick your favorite because there is no way you're taking my place!"

"Your mother wants me to." The truth came rushing out of Kagome's mouth so fast that she was sure he didn't hear but every other word. "She trained me to kill Naraku in your place so you wouldn't die!" She punctuated the last of words not managing to actually tell him the rest of the truth, that Kaede had also begged her not to kill the man child.

"Fucking hell!" Inuyasha yelled back as the terrifying notion of Kagome fighting (at least in her current condition) swept threw him. "I don't care what my mother said—that will only happen over my dead body!" He had the audacity to actually laugh as he finished. "Exactly—my dead body will be there not yours."

"Why not?" Kagome threw back in his face, her hands going to her hips and her eyes blazing with intensity. "On our wedding day you bowed to me, you bowed." She told him and he tried to say 'I know' to agree but she didn't give him time to even open his mouth. "That means we're equals right?"

"Yes," He stepped back and nodded his head knowing that under any other circumstance he would be glad to let her fight, scared shitless but glad to have her by his side, facing the world with him instead of behind him. "But damn it, Kagome!" He moved forward as he tried to think of the right words, the way to explain that she couldn't fight, not because she wasn't capable but for another reason entirely.

"Why do you get to be the one who dies?" Kagome furiously continued to argue part of her wanting to prove she was capable despite being a woman and a greater part of her wanting to protect him. "But—I can't kill Naraku anymore—not after what Kaede said." He subconscious kicked into gear and she practically snarled with resentment. "What the hell do I do?"

Not aware of some of Kagome's more turbulent thoughts, Inuyasha tried to stop forward, tried to think of the most delicate way to say what he was about to but there seemed to be no way to really say it without shocking her to her very core. "Kagome it's because—."

"You're the man," She threw the words in his mouth unable to stop herself as she looked into those suddenly darkening eyes. "Is that it?"

"No—no—," He growled and looked down at the ground pathetically before raising his eyes back up with a small amount of fury beginning to form. "Just listen to me, damn it Kagome!"

"Don't cuss at me." She shouted back and nearly turned to leave, unable to handle her thoughts and the possibilities and implications and the strange nausea that had formed in her stomach.

"Damn it," He cursed again towards her back but the sound held no malice, it was merely a whisper of pain and sorrow and regret mixed with an excitement that seemed so out of place in that moment that he squashed it down. "Kagome—you can't—," He reached for her desperately, grabbed her arm gently and turned her around. Her furious face met his own and he felt his heart tighten ridiculously in his chest. "You just can't." He shook his head when she started to open her mouth again and in desperation leaned forward and pressed his mouth firmly over her own.

She flinched backwards in shock, the kiss making no sense in her head but feeling so despicably good in that moment that she couldn't stop herself from pressing back. His bangs mixed with her own, the darkness of the hair and the feather light quality of it making them both desperate for contact. His hands slipped around her, wrapping around the small of her back and picking her up until her feet were nearly off the ground. She gasped from the gesture and her body quivered in response as his tongue slipped into her mouth. She instantly started a war he couldn't resist, her hands jumping into his black hair yanking him upwards more firmly.

He growled against her lips and the sensation vibrated through her whole body as he finally forced himself to pull away from her. Her eyes snapped opened and took in the pleading brown eyes of his mother. "You can't." He whispered again as his arms relaxed letting her down just enough so her feet touched the ground.

"Why?" She whispered back, the kiss having done its job to calm her so that she was ready listen.

One of his hands moved back to her shoulders and the other drudged its way to her neck, rubbing a small circle just below her ear as he looked straight into her eyes. "This isn't about me being the man," He stopped even as he felt something deep within him ready to argue. "It's—well—maybe a little but not for the reason you think." He looked away from her at the space between them, the separation of their bodies enough to kill his soul. "I trust you with my life." He didn't look at her as he spoke, not wanting her to see the pain in his eyes. "I know I will protect you and you will protect me and death," He squeezed his eyes shut, her feet disappearing from view as he inhaled deeply. "Death is part of that—I know—," He raised up his face and finally managed to make eye contact with her, although he couldn't stop himself from flinching at those grey eyes filled with turmoil. "But," The hand on her neck slid up until he was cupping her cheek, some of her soft hair caught underneath his fingers. "It can't be that way this time—it can't."

She started to pull away, anger beginning to take up residence within her one more time. His grip tightened, however, before she could slide out of his grip and she nearly hiccupped with surprise. "Inu—?

He pulled her against him in one swift motion, the hand on her cheek slipped to the back of her head, cupping it as he meshed their bodies together. His nose plummeted into the side of her neck and he inhaled once before licking the junction between her shoulder and neck to get her taste. He pulled his nose back up away from her as the flavor of salt and sweetness greeted him. His lips followed the path from her neck to her ear and then to her jaw and higher to her lips where he kissed her once, swiftly, before dragging his lips away. Within seconds, they found her forehead and her heart stopped as he placed a delicate kiss on a mixture of her hair and skin.

"Kagome," He whispered and his breath made her bangs gently brush against the soft skin of her forehead. "You're pregnant."

-break-

Kagura sat on the bed that she had shared with Hiten for months on end, her beautiful white eye and blue Shinigami one looking down at a sleeping Hiten. The coldness of the weather outside barely touched them within the warm room. The scent of their companionship and the heat it had created surrounded her and she closed her eyes against the sweetness of that combination. "One week." She thought to herself as she inhaled deeply, the mustiness of love filling her before she opened her eyes once more and looked down at Hiten.

The blanket that had covered him perhaps at one point was now tossed slightly to the side revealing his exposed back and shoulders. She winced as she took in the sight of multiple aging wounds some fresh and dark with barely contained infection and others lighter almost skin colored as if they had acquired time to heal. Unable to look at them for much longer, the pain they caused her both mentally and physically too much for her to handle, she grabbed for the blanket and pulled it up around the sleeping demon. With the wounds out of sight, she inhaled sharply and tried to think of anything else she could possibly focus on.

Unfortunately for her, the only other thing there was to focus on beside his wounds were her own. She could feel them on her palms and arms and legs and even back and stomach. Sharp pains and bangs coursing through her body every time she moved. Shaking slightly, she looked down at herself and winced as she took in her naked thighs, the scratches and bruises that were fading still startling to look at on her once milky skin.

"I can't take much more." She told herself as she drug her eyes away from the horrifying wounds. "Just the past week—he—he—," She closed her eyes as her whole body began to shake. "Become the devil incarnate." She gulped knowing that her own thoughts were a drastic understatement.

Naraku had become more than a monster or a devil incarnated. He had become a true member of Hades army, a representation of every demon in every layer of hell combined. He had ripped men apart in front of her eyes, laughed as others screamed, and stared right at her as he slit the throats of innocent people and villains alike upon the ship. He had systematically become the evil dictator of their crew.

"It's like there's nothing good at all within him," She whispered into the dark, her English perfect because within the last month he had decided she could no longer even sound like her native people and that when she did it was best to beat it out of her. "He's—a monster." She shook as she remembered his dangerously narrowed eyes staring at a man he was about to murder, so black that the pupil wasn't even visible any longer: a stark sign that his humanity was completely gone. "What changed him—he was never this bad before?" She wondered to herself as she lifted her head away from Hiten and towards the window of the cabin.

She began to shake as she watched the curtain move ever so slightly, a crack in the window behind it allowing just enough air in for the curtain to be mused. Her eyes crossed and her vision blurred as she saw Naraku's face against that curtain laughing sickeningly. It had been him who broke the windowpane by smashing her back against it only a week or so before. She shook her head violently and looked away just as the sound of nearby footsteps made her freeze.

They were coming towards the door, she could tell that much already without having to think at all. Hastily, she reached towards Hiten, grasping his shoulder and shaking him quickly with one hand while the other planted itself on his mouth so he wouldn't make a sound as he woke. The thunder demon growled against her hand and his eyes snapped opened meeting her own instantly. The growl ceased as he looked into her desperate eyes and without having to be told he nodded and shot out of the bed, her hand falling to the sheets as he grabbed his clothes and threw her own at her without a word.

She watched as his muscles worked in overtime, tensing around those fresh wounds and just now fading scars. She felt her own scars and her own cuts ache as she put her clothes on as well, the footsteps coming closer and closer towards the door with a lethargic jaunt that almost seemed mocking.

"Be ready." He told her in a hushed voice as he pulled on a shirt that had gashes in it and dried remnants of blood about the collar.

"You too." She whispered back as she pulled on her own shirt (one that had been his at one point) and drug herself out of the bed, placing her back against that broken window for protection. "At least with my back to the window," She reasoned as she felt the curtain run against her shoulders. "He can't surprise me."

The door rattled just as she felt the first telltale signs of the cold wind outside against her back. "Kagura—?" Her name floated in, the voice flat and unemotional to the point of making one's skin crawl.

Hiten turned and looked at her as he tensed, his body already shaking from a fear that was out of his control. She looked into his bright eyes and licked her lips as she saw the truth of their situation reflected in his barely contained panic. He nodded at her once slowly, giving her the go ahead to answer.

She turned her eyes towards the door and with the Shinigami eye was able to see through it towards the man outside. He looked so small and unassuming as he toyed with the door almost absently, his eyes staring at the handle as he waited. "It's so—so wrong," She told herself as a lump formed in his throat. "He looks so insignificant." She winced as he suddenly raised his head, his soulless eyes looking right at her through the door as if he could see her as she saw him. She gulped, her hands began to shake and her fingers grasped for something that wasn't there to protect her any longer. "Yes?" Kagura spoke in a soft voice knowing that she didn't have to speak any louder than that for whatever remained of Naraku on the other side to hear her.

The door handle rattled again, turning slowly against the lock of the bedroom. "Are you awake?" He spoke so methodically that it made both Hiten and Kagura's stomachs twist from the mockery of that false calm.

She looked towards Hiten again, noting that he was looking away from her and towards his staff as if debating if he should pick it up or not. "Why bother?" She asked herself as her own hand twitched for her fan. "He can kill us before we even raise a weapon." She closed her eyes against that thought as the door handle rattled again, this time a bit more firmly, impatiently. "I'm awake." She spoke quickly as one of the many wounds along her arms began to throb as if sensing what was about to happen.

"You know I don't like it—." The voice stopped for a second and the door rattled one last time before suddenly the handle snapped in two.

It fell to the ground, the metal clattering as it hit the wooden floor. The sound made both full demons practically fly out of their skin as the door was ripped from its hinges and thrown violently within the room hitting a, luckily, empty wall before slamming to the ground. Kagura winced and pressed her back against the glass of the cracked window, not caring that it bit into a previous injury that ran the length of her shoulder blades. From outside the room, Naraku took a careful step forward, his dark eyes emotionless as he looked at the two huddled together against the wall.

"—when you lock your door." He finished as if it was the most natural thing in the world to throw that door across the room.

Kagura didn't even breathe as she stared at him without the shinigami eye, her brain processing his looks without even realizing it. "He's taller," The odd thought circled in her head as she stared at him, hardly recognizing him as being the same person who had beaten her only a few days before. He had grown, as all boys do when they start to become men, and his chin was slightly stubbled making her wonder just how old he was now. Behind those signs of age, however, the darkness that always seemed to overshadow his youth or maturity both, made Kagura sick to her stomach. "I'm sorry." Kagura quickly spoke as she forced herself to continue breathing even through breathing seemed impossible when one was chocked with this much fear. "Please—."

"Please?" Naraku repeated the word, saying it slowly as if it were some foreign concept before he stepped into the room a little further.

"What do you want, Na—," Hiten's voice dropped instantly as Naraku's eyes snapped towards him growing dangerously narrowed. Hiten yanked his own eyes away from the face, only allowing his pride to keep him standing instead of kneeling but even pride could not hide the quiver in his beaten voice. "Master—how can we," His voice shook and his throat ached, sore from pleading, screaming, begging for mercy. "Serve you?"

Naraku smiled as he watched Hiten, the once powerful demon of thunder, cower in a corner ready to die. "Not we," He spoke contemptuously as he looked from Hiten towards the top of Kagura's head, just barely able to see it over Hiten's own. "Her."

Hiten's head snapped up at the prospect of being separated from his mate. "No!" He said quickly breaking every rule he had learned to be true about dealing with Naraku over the past six months they had been continually chasing Inuyasha towards Nippon.

The dark eyes flashed dangerously followed by teeth that shouldn't belong to a demon. "What did you say?" Naraku's voice was the epitome of barely contained violence as he took a dangerous step forward, the crumbling door that rested against the wall parallel to his feet sliding a little the sound making Hiten jump.

The thunder demon gulped and tried his best not to show any fear but it was impossible. "You will see us—us—together." He demanded even as his voice stumbled and teetered and fell. "Whatever you need—we can—we will serve together."

Naraku raised an eyebrow for a second as if amused but the look passed. The look turned deadly, the eyes narrowed and slit and full of hate that Hiten could never even think to feel. With speed that no man or demon should ever possess he was suddenly in front of Hiten. The thunder demon didn't even have time to gasp as Naraku's fist hit him solidly in the gut. Blood sprayed from the demon's mouth and Naraku snickered as Kagura shrieked behind Hiten. The thunder demon fell forward, gasping for breath as Naraku's snicker turned into a full-fledged laugh.

"Fool." He whispered as he grabbed the man by the collar of his bloody shirt, not seeming to care about the fresh blood that was dribbling down the man's chin from his lips.

"Naraku-sama!" Kagura cried out as she tried to grab hold of Hiten but it was too late to regain control over her mate. With his feet dangling off the floor, Naraku threw him as he had the door. Hiten flew across the room and hit the side of the wall head first with a sickening crack of both wood and bone. "Hiten-sama!" Kagura gasped and tried to shove Naraku out of her way as she watched the body slide down the wall, hitting the ground with a thump.

Naraku didn't allow her to go any further at all, grabbing her arm with a grip so tight that she heard the bone within her body groan before cracking itself. The wind demon nearly blacked out from the instant onset of pain but didn't allow Naraku the pleasure as she tried to punch him and pull herself away from him. "It's useless." He told her as he glanced towards Hiten's still body once before smirking. "He won't wake up for an hour or two," He frowned slightly as Kagura tried to push away from him but couldn't manage to. "If he wakes up that is."

Kagura's breath hitched in her throat and she stopped struggling as she looked towards Hiten wide eyed. She strained her ears and her every sense wanting nothing more than to hear his heartbeat even if it was faint, and smell life coming from him even if it was laced with twinges of death. Before she could do either, though, Naraku turned on his heel and started towards the door.

"No!" Kagura yelled and struggled but Naraku didn't seem to be affected by her pleas as she looked at the unmoving Hiten. "Onegai!" She reverted to Nihon without even thinking, the sound of her native language making the weasel demon whom held her snarl.

"How many times do I have to tell you," He yelled furiously as he brought her face to face with his snarling teeth. "Do not speak that language!" He snapped, his free hand recoiling behind his head before snapping forward.

Her eyes went huge and she tried to open her lips to scream but the sound never left her as pain exploded across her face. Her head snapped to the side, her neck actually cracking from the force as her vision blurred. She felt bile and blood in her mouth as she just managed to make out Hiten lying unmoving on the floor one more time before her vision went momentarily black. She felt Naraku throw her over his shoulder and snort but there was nothing she could do as dizziness took hold of her body.

"Both of you," Naraku spoke and she knew he was walking because of the way her body swayed. "Fools—fools—fools." He repeated the word as if he were stuck and unable to think of another one to take its place.

She tried to focus her vision to see where they were going but the dizziness made the blurriness worse and the blurriness made every sight she could take in look the same: unclear brown wood. She tried to move her hands, to shove at his arm, which was holding her around her waist as he walked but her fingers wouldn't move. In the distance (or perhaps they were closer but she simply couldn't tell per the ringing in her ears) she heard the whispers of the crew, the men wanting to rush to protect her, the demon woman who had protected them countless times but they didn't dare, no one dared face Naraku.

She tried to growl but her throat wouldn't make the noise, it only groaned instead, the sound coming from deep within her very soul. She barely registered the sound of a door opening and then the sound of it shutting, her mind spinning with too many thoughts. She felt the rush of wind around her and the eerie freedom of no longer being held. Confused, she tried to figure out what was happening but before she could contemplate that rush of wind any longer it stopped abruptly.

Her body crashed to the ground and she hissed as she slid across the wooden floor of Naraku's cabin just now realizing that he had thrown her and that was why she felt wind. Her back hit something, forcing her to stop and she moaned loudly in pain as her body cried out from the sensation of her back wanting to snap in half.

"I've been charting our path," Naraku spoke and it sounded as if his voice was coming from every angle of the room. "And I think we're close, you really saved us time with your wind storms in the sails." He continued on, the echo of his voice making her feel as if she was in a maze. "Since you're from this region, I thought you might be able to tell exactly though."

Kagura groaned against his words and finally tried to open her eyes. The blurry room came into focus after only a few seconds (for her shinigami eye at least) and she shuttered as she realized she was in Naraku's room. She could see his desk and his bed and the spots on his floor where peoples' blood had been spilled, staining the wood since he never bothered to clean it. Terrified, she pushed herself off the ground and shoved her body backwards. Her back came into contact with the very object that had stopped her from sliding all the way across the floor and she snapped her head backwards towards it. "A desk?"

"Are you listening Kagura!?" Naraku snarled breaking up her thoughts right before he reached down and grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her to her feet.

She snarled in response but knew better than to claw at him or bite, which would only end with more than just a slowly healing fractioned arm. "Yes!" She told him as he yanked her upwards until she was standing over the desk looking down at a blur of nonsensical information. "I can't think at all." Her mind reeled and she snapped her eyes shit trying to gather her thoughts. "Focus—please focus!"

"How much longer!" He yelled into her ear and she opened her eyes barely making out the blurry white object on the table.

She could tell it was a map but the pain in her head from the hairs straining not to be yanked from her scalp was intense, making her eyes unfocus and refocus so quickly that she couldn't think. "What?" She tried to speak as she squinted, unsure what she was looking at.

Naraku growled and slammed her head forward into the table before she could even think. "The map idiot." He told her fiercely as he pressed her nose against the rough surface of the parchment. "Look at the bloody map and tell me how much more!" He pulled her back away from the paper once more, so she could look down at the chart.

Understanding completely, Kagura forced her eyes opened and made her brain turn back on. She pushed the thought of how much pain she was in completely out of her head and without a second thought looked straight at the map. She could just make out the route he had been plotting in bright red ink that she wasn't (at least for now) going to believe was blood. The red ink trail followed, almost exactly, the path Hiten and herself had originally designed and there was little more than a few inches left in that black line which the red one had yet to follow. "We're almost there." She realized just to herself, her eyes growing huge with the frightening prospect.

"Well?" Naraku pressed her as he lightened his grip on her hair just slightly.

"A week—," She gasped out as the release of pressure on her head made it just slightly easier to speak. "A week—no more,"

Naraku leaned forward at her words and pulled her upwards by her hair at the same time meeting her in the middle. She gasped from the pain but forced her eyes opened none the less to look at him. "Are you sure?" He spoke slowly and clearly, drawing out each little syllable as if she were a child.

"Yes," Kagura looked down at the charts once more, knowing for certain because of her Shinigami eye that she was right. "We're almost there." She whispered as her hands shook more fiercely and she raised her eyes up towards Naraku, watching as a smile spread across his face.

"So close," He whispered and his fangs dripped with spit as he suddenly released her. She fell forward with a grunt, not having expected him to let go of her so quickly. If he noticed her pain or cared, however, he didn't let it be known as he backed away from her and clapped his hands together once. "So close," He chuckled twice before the sound turned into a depraved laugh. "Just one week—just one week!"

Kagura winced and lowered her head, ducking down so she wouldn't be seen as he began to laugh in near hysterical burst. "Oh god," She tried not to cry as her thoughts turned to the only two people who could possibly save anyone from this vile man. "Please—one week—Kagome—Inuyasha, you only have one week."

End of Chapter

Please Review

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the new chapter. We have one week to go and only one week (in the story that is) before everything comes to an end. Will Kagome and Inuyasha be able to fix his demon for? Will Kagome come to terms with the fact she is pregnant? Will she not kill her husband for doing it without her permission? All these answers and more will be found next time—maybe—see you then!

Bonus Point:

I'm running out of the time and mental capacity to think of these things so:

What is your favorite part of the story so far? Do you think I should add anything? Are there any special request? I am actually really curious…

Last Chapter's Bonus Point:

The answer is The Iliad! Although some of you were quite close, most people were just a little off. Congrats to the participants!

Sweethunnibunni, Glon Morski, InuRiotGirl, atem4321

Next Chapter:

My Father's Back

See you then!

UNEDITED

UPDATED

11/10/14