Chapter Twenty-Six

A Broken Spirit and Secrets Revealed

Disclaimer: If I owned InuYasha do you think that I would write all this?

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Sesshomaru was lying in bed, waiting for Kagome to awaken. Looking over at his mate, he sighed a little bit. Even though he had completely recovered physically, he couldn't get over this blockage he was having, preventing himself from being his normal self.

Why couldn't he protect them all, especially Kagome? He should have known that something was going on right underneath his very nose; it was his land after all. Was he failing as a Lord? Kagome had been hurt so many times because of him and … he was honestly beginning to believe that he was failing as a father especially. Because of his dedication to his lands those long eleven years ago, Kagome got trapped in her own time with the twins and being pregnant with Katsu. It was because of that 'dedication' that they spent those miserable years apart and that his children spent eleven years without a father and the twins literally grew up without a father.

It was his fault. His entire fault …

Sesshomaru got up and dressed quickly, not waiting for Kagome to wake from her slumber and left the castle in a hurry. He needed to do something to clear his mind otherwise he would go insane.

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Later that day, Kagome was sitting in the garden with the entire family … minus one brooding lord whom she hadn't even seen since the night before. Heaving a heavy sigh, she didn't notice the pairs of eyes on her.

Haku tugged on his adopted mother's sleeve. "Okaa-san, why does obaa-san look so sad?" Takara smiled and looked to him.

"I'm not sure, Haku, why don't you talk to her?" The young boy nodded and walked over to Kagome, sitting down beside her.

"Obaa-san, why are you sad?" Kagome looked to the boy and smiled brightly at him.

"It's nothing to worry about, Haku. Why don't you play with Katsu?" Haku nodded, not seeing a reason to press the issue and followed her suggestion.

InuYasha walked over to Kagome and looked down at her. "Oi, wench, let's go for a walk." Kagome looked to the others and then to InuYasha and nodded. "Alright."

They didn't talk for a while and Kagome was thankful. She just walked, looking at the ground, lost in her thoughts and didn't even notice that her companion had stopped and walked right into him. Thankful for her, InuYasha grabbed her before she hit the ground and pulled her into a comforting hug and he instantly smelt her tears.

"Kagome, what's wrong with you today?" Kagome trembled a little bit and she bit her lip, trying her best to hold back her tears but, she really couldn't hide anything from her longest standing friend.

"InuYasha … "Her voice broke and InuYasha just pressed her closer.

"Kagome, did he do something to you?" Even if InuYasha disliked his brother, he knew for a fact that he wouldn't harm Kagome, intentionally anyways. Kagome just buried her face in the familiar red harori.

"InuYasha, it's all my fault. I was too weak and stupid and I couldn't protect myself even after all that training … it's my fault that he's hurt … all my fault … he left … he left us … " InuYasha sighed a little bit, a small smile playing on his face.

"Kagome … " He held her at arms length and his smile vanished, turning into a frown. He'd never seen her this upset before … not even before with all those times when she'd caught him with Kikyo.

"What if he doesn't come back this time?! What if he's gone for good?! It's my fault that he left! I was too weak! Too gullible! He told me that I shouldn't have been alone outside the castle walls! I should have listened to him! Everything that happened his my fault!" Now the tears came with strong force, leaving InuYasha at a loss of what to do, how to comfort her so he did the only thing that came to his mind; he bonked her over the head.

"Stop that, will ya?! Don't go thinking stupid things like that, you baka! Sesshomaru may be a baka lord but he LOVES you, Kagome! He would never leave you for good! It's just not possible for him!" InuYasha cast his head downward, his bangs hiding his eyes.

"When you were trapped in your time, that baka worked me like a dog, doing everything and anything he could think of to get that stupid well working and when nothing would work, he bloody well locked himself up in your room, hardly ever going outside. Then he went back to his usual stoic self and was even cold to Rin. There was almost no living with him for those eleven years. After the first year you were gone, he would leave the castle and just roam and roam the land, looking for trouble, looking for anyone that would challenge him, looking for anything to ease the pain of you being gone."

Kagome's eyes went wide as she listened to InuYasha tell her all this. She had no idea …

"Everyone in the castle was afraid of him again but … that day you came back, that day everyone felt it again, was the most life we'd seen in that baka since the well stopped working. He was just lying in his bed, moping some more when Yuri convinced me to go see him. His eyes snapped open and he moved so fast that I blinked and missed him. I've never seen him move as fast as he did that day." InuYasha paused and held out a hand for Kagome to help her up off the ground.

"I'm sorry for hitting you but you needed to snap out of it and realize that he would never intentionally leave you and he would rather endure what happened at that place one hundred times over than lose you again." Kagome's eyes welled up again and she turned when she heard someone step out from the bushes.

To her surprise, it was the same person that they had been talking about for the past little while. He was battered and beaten but smiling still. He opened his arms and Kagome launched herself at him, feeling his strong, protective arms go around her.

InuYasha crossed his arms and gave a 'feh' but smiled at the couple, jumping away to give them a little peace.

"Kagome, why did you think that I would leave you?" Sesshomaru closed his eyes, taking in her scent and the feel of having her in his arms, burying his face in her long raven tresses.

"I don't know … I'm sorry … I … just … it's my fault what happened to you. I should have listened to you … " Kagome sobbed into his chest, clutching his kimono tightly.

"Don't look at it that way. Think about this, though. I believe that it is for the better that the events unfolded this way instead of another way. It could have been much worse and more people could have been harmed, even killed. It's true that there were casualties but everyone stayed alive and our two grandchildren remained safe and no one attacked the our castle where the numbers of the wounded would have been much greater." Kagome thought about it as he spoke and slowly nodded.

"You're right … I'm sorry …" Sesshomaru held her away from him slightly, a smile on his face, his golden eyes soft and full of love while the sun filtered through the trees, giving the surrounding area a magical feel. He stopped her in mid sentence with a single clawed finger.

"Enough with the apologies, no one is to blame for this. Everyone and everything is fine now." Kagome smiled at his words and met him for a tender kiss.

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Later that night while everyone was either in bed or just settling in for the night, Haku walked the trail from the castle to where his old home was with his two tailed fire cat.

They came across a burial site and Haku placed some flowers he had picked on his families graves and sat on his knees with a smile. "Hello everyone, I'm sorry I haven't come to visit lately but there have been some problems with everyone at the castle. Don't worry though, everything is alright now. Lord Sesshomaru and Lady Kagome are back to their usual selves and it's a great relief. Lady Kagome is so kind, mother, you would like her a lot and okaa-san Takara is a lot like her. Lady Kagome is a priestess, father so Lord Sesshomaru says it's a good thing that she is taking care of the jewel for me, I hope you don't mind. She said that it would probably better for her to look after it rather than a small boy like me."

A little ways away, Takara, who had noticed the boy missing, was walking through the forest, obviously looking for him.

"Haku! Haku, where are you?" She stopped and put her hands on her hips, giving a bit of a sigh.

"Jeez, where could he have gotten to? It's not exactly safe for him to be out here alone, even if he is with Bento." She stopped and spotted him in front of some graves with flowers placed on them. "There he is."

Starting towards him, she stopped again, hearing him talk about castle life. A small smile played out on her face at the endearment in his voice and she started towards him again.

"Oi, Haku. What are you doing out here?" The boy with the dark hair, tied into a small ponytail, much like Miroku's turned and looked to her, and smiling the instant he saw his adopted mother. Takara walked over to him, wearing clothes from the modern era and stopped beside him. Looking down, she frowned a little bit.

"It's not safe for you to be out here on your own, even if you are with Bento." Haku nodded a little bit.

"Gomen, mother. Oh! Mother, father, this is Takara. She's the one who is taking care of me." Takara folded her hands in front of her and bowed politely to the graves. The boy smiled brightly, happy that she was here with him.

"So, this is what you're doing out here so late at night?" Haku nodded with a smile.
"Hai, I haven't been able to visit them since aunt Ai and uncle Kasei was pronounced engaged." Takara nodded a little and crouched down next to him with her hands on her knees.

"Oh, I see. Well, you don't have to sneak out on your own to visit them, Haku. I'll come with you whenever you want." Haku's eyes lit up.

"You mean it?" Takara smiled at him.

"Of course." After a minute of silence, she looked at the graves. "So what were you talking about?" Haku looked at the graves and Bento crawled into his lap for comfort. The boy smiled and began stroking the cat.

"I was telling them that obaa-san is taking care of the jewel now." She nodded a little and then looked to him.

"Do you think maybe you could tell me about your mother and father?" The boy smiled and nodded, closing his eyes and beginning to tell what he knew.

"Well, father met mother when he was doing a ceremonial blessing on her village." Takara had to ask, she had no idea what a ceremonial blessing was or anything like that.

"Ceremonial blessing?" Haku nodded.

"It's when a monk blesses the village and stays at the village master's home for three days. It's a ritual that's preformed to bring luck and happiness to the village and ward of evil spirits and help prevent sickness."

"You seem to know a lot about it." Haku nodded again.

"Father taught it to me before he died since he wanted me to take over as village master one day. But it's okay, don't feel sad about it. Father also had a brother who was a traveling monk as well but I haven't seen him since I was little." Takara smiled.

"Well, maybe we could find him and visit him sometime. Do you remember his name?" Haku nodded.

"I could never forget uncle Miroku."

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A/N: Well … I'm terribly sorry for the wait everyone but this is really the first time I've been able to write since I moved. –Sigh- Anyways … I know that the chapter that was suppose to reveal more about Haku didn't really help in explaining anything about him and probably only created more mystery about the strange boy who held the Shikon no tama.

I hope this explains more about him –smile- By the way … I realize that InuYasha would probably never hit Kagome but he's hit girls before –seen it in the 4th InuYasha movie … which I own-

I was planning on doing a few crossovers with InuYasha like … Sailor Moon/Inu crossover, Kingdom Hearts/Inu crossover and (new idea) Ouran Host Club/Inu crossover. For those of you who don't know what the previously stated anime is … look on youtube!

I hope I'll be able to update on another one of my popular stories (Naruto crossover) Anywho … I would like to thank these following reviewers:

teiboi

anime angel

Jessica Broward

k4g0me

Merani-chan

lovelywitch

Zutara Lover

Wandering Hitokiri

AtomicKittenOnTheLoose

Cat

Lady Riku of the Western Lands