Inuyasha growled softly in his throat as he watched the gang in front of him and Kagome. He hated it when he turned a human. His dull senses couldn't detect danger until it was right in front of them. He looked desperately at the sky. It was about ten minutes until the sun rose. He wasn't going to let any one lay a hand on his Kagome.
" What the hell do you want?" Inuyasha asked, stepping protectively in front of Kagome fists clenched at his sides.
" We want some ass, don't we boys?" One of the boys in the gang said out loud, receiving cheers of approval.
Growling, Inuyasha hurled himself at the gang spokes man. In mid-flight, he was thrown to one side. The report of a gun going off echoed in the still air, causing a couple of early birds jogging in the park to start in fear. Inuyasha cried out in pain as the round tore through his shoulder, tenderizing the muscle around the wound. As blood began to leek down his shirt, Inuyasha lurched to the gang once again, but got the butt of a gun thrust in his face.
Kagome screamed in fear when she saw Inuyasha get shot. Then a couple members of the gang grabbed her, dragging her away from Inuyasha. Screaming and kicking, she fought as much as she could, but couldn't get away, no matter how hard she struggled. Chancing a look at the lightening sky, Kagome smiled smugly when she saw the sun starting to rise. Arms held her tightly, nails digging into her arms as their owners stared at the awesome spectacle that was occurring in front of them.
Inuyasha's hair turned back to its original silvery-white colour. His fangs grew back and so did his nails. His ears crawled back up to the top of his head, changing back to their original dog-eared shape. Ignoring his wounded, tender shoulder and the blood, slowly leaking from it, the hanyou grabbed the nearest pair and hurled them against a tree; nowhere near hard enough to kill them, only enough to knock them out. Taking a running leap at the ones who held Kagome, he scattered them like leaves on a tree. He grabbed her and took off, jumping from one roof to another until they reached Kagome's house, and let her off as soon as they had entered through Kagome's window.
" Hold still," Kagome said as she went to get some bandages. She knew that Inuyasha would be better soon, but she always felt better when she bandaged up any one of his wounds. With a practiced hand, the wound was bandaged with hardly a complaint from the hanyou.
" Kagome, what in hell was that weapon? I've never seen one like that," Inuyasha asked his love.
" That is a gun. It's a modern weapon that, well, we'll say throws pieces of metal at very high speeds. A lot of people are killed by them,' Kagome replied. " Come on, let's go grab breakfast and then we'll head back."
Sango was steaming when she saw Miroku try to seduce another village girl. Sighing, she knew it was his nature and he would have a hard time getting rid of the habit. Looking at her brother, she hid a smile and turned back to polishing her hiraikotsu. She looked up when she heard some little village kids scream in delight. Glancing up, she saw Inuyasha and Kagome surrounded by them. Those two, and the rest of the gang had become very popular around here. In fact, they were loved.
" Kagome, Inuyasha. Hello again," Miroku said, abandoning his attempts to try and seduce the girl. He didn't really know why he kept it up; he was about to have a wife whom he loved very much. It was time to stop asking younger girls into bearing his children.
" Kagome!" Shippou squealed when he saw his surrogate mother appear and launched himself in her arms. He hid his surprise when Inuyasha patted him on the head instead of being the idiot he usually was.
" Hi Shippou. Sango, can I talk to you?" Kagome asked her best friend from this era.
" Sure. Kohaku, if Miroku tries to seduce another girl, bash him on the head for me, please," Sango said and received a nod of assent. She walked to Kagome and then they headed into the forest where they could speak in peace.
While they were gone, Inuyasha turned to Miroku.
" Monk, you are one stupid guy. You're always chasing a girl when you meet them. I think that it's time you stopped," The hanyou said. He idly watched as the monk glanced at his hand, the same hand where his curse was located. Now that Naraku was dead, the black hole in his hand was gone, the curse lifted.
" I agree. You know, I always loved Sango; it was just that I was afraid for her getting sucked up into the wind tunnel or having our child doing it for me," Miroku said and sat down on the ground, still staring at his hand. " Now that I've finally admitted my love for her and that Naraku's dead, I don't have anything to worry about, except for her calling me a hentai and hitting me with either her hand or her hiraikotsu."
Inuyasha smiled at thought of Sango and Miroku's child running around with his and Kagome's pup.
Sango sat down on a stump with Kagome. They were quiet for a while before Kagome broke the silence.
" Sango, I want to congratulate you. You've finally found the one you love," She said and received a look from the demon slayer. " What?"
" You're in love with Inuyasha, aren't you?" Sango asked. When all she got was silence, she smirked and continued. "You two made love."
Kagome gapped at Sango. How did she know? Seeing her friend's embarrassment, Sango smirked again.
" I haven't told you everything either. When ever you and Inuyasha were in your time, and Shippou was with Kaede, Miroku and I would head out to the forest and make love," She said.
" So that's why when you came back, you were always in a good mood," Shippou quipped.
" Oi, you weren't supposed to know that!" Sango exclaimed, her cheeks reddening at the fact that the orphan fox demon child knew about her outings with the monk on the new moon.
" I kept it in all this time, I'll keep it in for longer if I have to," Shippou said.
"Thanks," Sango said and with a little giggle, they got up and headed for the village, where their men waited for them. But they did not know that Nianniai was watching them, her plan almost complete.
Inuyasha watched as Kagome undressed. He sat in a tree, keeping a vigil that he always did without knowing why. It had been three almost, four months since Miroku and Sango had been married. He jumped down when Kagome got in the water, still watching for signs of danger.
" Come in, Inuyasha. The water's fine,' Kagome said.
" It's not the water I'm worried about. Kagome, get out and put your clothes on," Inuyasha hissed at her. He waited until, Kagome had put her clothes on before he turned and waited again. This time it wasn't long before he saw his brother appear from the forest.
" Ah, Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru said, his voice smooth, like water flowing over a rock. He held out his hand to let the toad demon and the little girl behind him to stop.
" What they hell do you want, Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha asked his older brother, his hand curled around the sheathed Tetsusaiga's hilt.
" I want to talk to you," The full demon told his little hanyou brother and then left with Inuyasha following behind him, leaving Kagome alone with Rin and Jaken.
" Hello Rin," Kagome said gently.
" Hello Kagome," The little girl responded. She soon came over and sat downs beside the miko. She stared at the river, and then she found herself looking at Kagome's middle. There was a slight bulge. Kagome found the girl looking at her stomach, smiled and patted her round middle.
" You're wondering about my stomach, aren't you?" Kagome asked. When she got a nod, the young miko continued. " Well, it turns out that I'm pregnant. I'm carrying Inuyasha's child in me until it's time for him or her to come out."
They sat there, watching the bubbling waters for an unknown amount of time before they realized that they were under attack. Hiding little Rin away in a small hollowed out hole under a tree, Kagome took out her arrows and her bow, protecting the girl. But she screamed out loud when a demon attacked her legs instead.
Inuyasha was annoyed when his brother led him away from Kagome's side. After stopping at a rise, they sat down, staring at the sky, staying silent before deciding to speak at all.
" Brother, I want you to know that I am proud of your work. You have destroyed the demon Naraku. It took some courage to defeat your fear of losing every one you know," Sesshoumaru told his brother, breaking the silence.
" Feh," Inuyasha mumbled under his breath. " If that's all you wanted to know, why didn't you wait until my pup is born? At least you would have a reason to see me. You're wasting your time right now."
" It was hard trying to find you. Your scent is everywhere, but I had to find out where you were exactly, and that took some time. Longer than I expected," Sesshoumaru said and took a deep breath. " When is your pup due, little brother?"
" During the winter months, the time Kagome refers to as Christmas," Inuyasha told his brother.
Just as the youkai brother was about to speak again, a piercing scream sounded out, echoing through the forest. Eyes flashing angrily, the brothers were on their feet, hands on the hilts of their swords. It was the hanyou who spoke first, softly, breaking the silence.
" Kami, that was Kagome," Was all he said before taking off.
Sesshoumaru was the first to get to the river's edge. There were signs of a battle, the corpses of demons said as much. He knelt beside a broken bow and an arrow. The quiver was nowhere to be seen. He heard his brother finally crash out of the forest, cursing as he stumbled over Jaken's unconscious form.
" She's gone, isn't she?" Inuyasha asked no one in particular. He looked at the broken bow and felt the tears well up in his eyes. Wrenching his sight away from the weapon, he saw a flash of white and red. " Rin, come out. They're gone."
The girl came out, visibly trembling in fear. She had stuffed her fists in her mouth to keep from crying out loud when the demons had attacked her and Kagome. She immediately ran to Sesshoumaru, babbling incoherencies.
" Rin, slow down. Tell us what happened," The youkai lord said calmly.
" The demons, milord. They attacked after Kagome told me the news about the child she is going to have. They wanted her very bad," Rin told them. " She hid me before she shot them. Then there was a lady in black who appeared out of nowhere. All she did was look at Kagome and she fell down. I wanted to help, but she told me to stay put. Gomen, I wanted to help, but she didn't want me to."
" You did good, Rin. Which way did they go?" Sesshoumaru asked. Rin pointed to the north.
" Sesshoumaru," Inuyasha said, a little less harshly than he intended. " We should bring Rin to Kaede's, to keep her safe." The hanyou looked at the sky. " I'm going after her, Sesshoumaru. Sango, Miroku, Shippou, Kirara and I are going to find Kagome, no matter what."
Sesshoumaru got up and, holding little Rin close, he starred his brother right in the eyes, gold looking deeply into gold.
" You're not going alone with those humans you stay with," the youkai lord said before they left for Kaede's village, with Rin and Jaken in tow.
When Kagome woke up, it was pitch black. She couldn't see a thing. What scared her the most was the fact that Rin was still out there. But then again, her scream was loud enough for Inuyasha to hear.
" Ah, the little miko princess is awake," A sibilant female voice said, coming from the darkness around Kagome.
" Who's there?" Kagome asked, and before she could say any thing more, a bright light engulfed the area.
" My name is Nianniai. You knew my sister, Kaguya, yet you and that half demon denied her the right of having a solid body again," Nianniai said. " I will give her the right to walk the earth in a human body again, in your body."
" No!" Kagome exclaimed, clutching her stomach as if to protect the life that grew there from the woman that stood in front of her. She could feel her miko powers pulsing in her, the purity of it coursing through her veins.
Nianniai stared at the miko in front of her. She could feel the power growing in her and it frightened her. What was going on? Kagome's powers should not work here. Maybe the girl had more powers in her than any one had ever imagined.
" So you are as powerful as they say, and your powers are growing," Nianniai told Kagome, before being assaulted with a wave of energy.
Kagome stared at the image that appeared before her. The image of a woman in full battle gear startled her. Then she noticed the power and energy emanating from her. She could feel a familiar pulse coming from the image, the power of the Shikon no Tama. With a sudden realization, she knew who this woman was.
" Midoriko?" Kagome whispered.
" They come. You don't have to worry; you and the child will be all right. I have created the jewel and you have protected it, destroying Naraku at the same time. You have put me to rest, but I will help you before I go," The long-dead woman told Kagome before disappearing. " Keep faith, my child, my dear priestess."
Kagome stared at nothing, ignoring the fact that Nianniai was yelling at her. She didn't even know when the demoness had left.
Sango sat with Miroku, gazing at the stars. They held each other's hand lovingly, not ever wanting to let go. The rustling of bush leaves form the forest's edge disturbed them. Their gazing disrupted, they watched as Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru bounded out form the forest, Rin and Jaken following the two half brothers as they ran up the main path of Kaede's village.
" Inuyasha, what's wrong? Where's Kagome?" Miroku called out. When he received a look of anger and pain, he knew that some one had taken Kagome. " Come on, Sango. Looks like we're going to have fun kicking some demon ass."
They headed to their hut and grabbed their weapons, unintentionally waking Kohaku. When he saw his sister grab her hiraikotsu, he grabbed his chained sickle. The look on his face told his sister to not argue. They met with Kaede outside as Sesshoumaru finished telling Rin and Jaken to stay there. Kaede reassured the little girl, telling her that her master was going to help find Kagome.
" What are you waiting for?" Inuyasha yelled at them, waiting impatiently as Kirara transformed to her full demon size. With a groan of impatience, the hanyou took off, following the scent of his love as best as he could. His hands curled into fists, his knuckles cracking. Whenever he got a hold on the demon or demons that held Kagome, there would be hell to pay for.
Sango kept a steady hand grasping Kirara's mane, resisting the urge to yell at Inuyasha for letting Kagome out of his sights. Then she wondered about Sesshoumaru. Why was he here? And most important of all, why was he trying to help his half brother when all they ever did in the pats was fight? There was definitely something going on here.
" Miroku, what do you suppose happened?" Sango asked, turning to her husband, shifting her hiraikotsu so it wouldn't hit the monk unconscious and send him tumbling down to the rushing ground.
" I suppose Kagome was kidnapped when Sesshoumaru came. Don't know why he's here, though. I guess we'll find out sooner or later," Miroku replied.
The night passed onto morning and the sun was getting lower in the sky when Sesshoumaru finally told every one to stop. Inuyasha, being the stubborn one that he usually is, kept going out of pure doggedness. He wasn't going to stop until he found Kagome. He struggled when Sango ordered Kirara to stop him by any means necessary, the two-tailed fire cat demon sitting on the hanyou as a last resort.
" Little brother. If you continue at this pace, you will surely kill yourself," The youkai lord said as he grabbed both of Inuyasha's arms and hauled him upright, avoiding the fist Inuyasha swung wildly at him, launching one of his own that caught the hanyou on the jaw.
Inuyasha felt himself fall to the ground but couldn't stop. He cursed his half brother, unable to say the words. Instead he let himself fall, the jolt from the ground meeting his head bringing him to unconsciousness.
Miroku busied himself looking for firewood while Sango tended to the tired Kirara and an unconscious Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru stood guard, listening to the sounds of the night as the darkness descended steadily. Sango readied their supper, keeping Kirara close to her as she ate. Miroku sat beside her, eating in silence. They were interrupted when Inuyasha regained consciousness. He sat up, and growled at Sesshoumaru, almost rushing head on at the youkai.
" Why in hell did you do that?" Inuyasha growled at his brother.
" You know just as well as I do. If you would have continued at that breakneck speed of yours, you would have killed yourself," Sesshoumaru replied calmly. " Would you have done Kagome any good dead?"
Inuyasha sat in silence. Sesshoumaru was right. If he were dead, how would he get Kagome back alive? Reluctantly, he accepted the food that Sango handed him and dug in. With a sigh, he decided to tell both Sango and Miroku what had happened to Kagome earlier in the day. When he had finished, he was sure that the demon exterminator would have whacked him a million times with her hiraikotsu and then would have killed him. He watched as her facial expression changed as she realized that if was going to blame Inuyasha, she had better also blame Sesshoumaru seeing as the youkai lord had decided to talk to the hanyou at the precise moment of the attack.
" I suppose that you didn't smell any demons around, did you?" Kohaku asked to the half brothers.
" No," They replied, almost at the same time.
Later during the night, Inuyasha stayed awake, ignoring his full demon half brother. His mind wandered back to when he had first met Kagome.
He had been pinned to the Goshinboku for fifty years. His ears twitched against a wandering hand. Opening his golden eyes, he saw a girl of about fifteen years of age rubbing his ears. Wait, she looked exactly like Kikyo! Eyes growing hard, he yelled at her, calling the girl Kikyo, to let him go.
She yelled back at him, telling him that she didn't know a Kikyo, that her name was Kagome Higurashi. She went on to say that she had been brought here by an old well because her brother was scared of the well and would not go in the shrine and find Buyo, their cat. A centipede demon had made her fall in the well, saying that she held the power of the Shikon no Tama. She didn't know what it was talking about, but when she opened her eyes, she was in the Feudal era. Then she met the villagers and Kaede. There she learned about being Kikyo's incarnation.
After that, the centipede demon attacked Kagome when she was by the Goshinboku and him. The demon started to squeeze Kagome to the tree. With an act that went against Kaede's advice, Kagome freed him. He destroyed the demon, but before he could get to the girl and take the jewel she had, Kaede had an enchanted rosary around his neck, with one key word that would take him to kiss the ground. Ever since, he had become fonder of Kagome, protecting her against the Thunder brothers and other dangers as best as he could, crying when he thought she was dead, and fighting for her and with her when demons came after her for the shards, or when Koga came to try and convince her to take his hand in marriage. But he always hid his emotions when he was asked about them and beating up Miroku when he was getting a little too close to Kagome, especially when they first met him at a village.
A strange smell permeated his senses while he dreamed. Snapping his eyes open, he looked around. He saw his brother watching the surrounding area, as if he knew that what ever was out there was going to attack. A snap of a twig sounded through the little campsite, never disturbing the humans. Ears swivelling to pinpoint the sound, they saw the same sight at the same time.
A woman wearing a pure black dress, her eyes as dark as the night appeared. They seemed to pierce the soul. Her long, grey hair floated around her like a living cape. She seemed to float above ground. When she spoke, her voice was hard and harsh like a winter's wind.
" The hanyou Inuyasha. Ah, and his half brother, Sesshoumaru," She said. " How better can this get?"
" No better for you," Inuyasha replied and drew the Tetsusaiga, the fang's energy swirling around it in a small storm. The transformation of the blade made it a deadly weapon.
" If that is what you say, what would you say if I told you I had her? The one you love so dearly?" the strange demoness asked.
" I'd get the information out of you and then I'd kill you. Relatively simple," The hanyou answered, the Tetsusaiga's blade glowing a fraction as Inuyasha prepared to hurl a windscar at the dark demoness.
" You see there is the problem with that, I'm afraid. If I don't get there soon, she may die. And the demons keeping her there for me will kill you before you get any where close to the human," The demoness told him. " Can you tell me why she is in your heart? Or why you chose her instead of another half breed?"
" That's none of your business," The hanyou said and threw his attack. The windscar ripped up huge trenches in the earth as it made its way to the demoness from the Tetsusaiga.
Raising her hand, Nianniai deflected the attack. As the sword's energy dissipated, she smirked and stared hard and long at the half demon in front of her, eyes growing cold. She was looking to paralyze him, not damage him permanently. She wanted Kagome to helplessly watch him die before the miko's body was taken for Kaguya's very own destructive use.
Inuyasha felt himself slowly be paralyzed. The Tetsusaiga fell from his numb clawed fingers, the transformation undone. His legs became jelly and he dropped to his knees with a start. As he started to fall face first to the ground, he willed his arms to save him from having his face planted in the ground.
Nianniai watched in utter amazement as the hanyou stopped himself from falling face first. No one could have a will strong enough to resist against her powers; it had never happened before today. She had deliberately used her strongest to keep him paralyzed, and he had resisted it successfully Then her attention was diverted when Sesshoumaru drew one of his two swords and attacked. She lunged away, but the tip of the sword caught a bit of her hair.
Sesshoumaru kept his gaze away from the demoness's. His attack kept her attention away from his little half brother. Again he struck, the blade missing Nianniai completely. At least she wasn't going to kill Inuyasha.
Nianniai kept avoiding the demon lord's attacks as he tried to keep her away from Inuyasha. Her gaze hardened. This time she was going to kill. She willed for all of her power to be directed at the demon lord and kill him, painfully.
Sesshoumaru fell to the ground, his limbs locking solidly on him and turning to jelly. He couldn't move away from the demoness in black, yet he felt compelled to look at Nianniai. His head rose reluctantly, locking gazes with the demoness, gold against darkness. The little bit of pain that he felt in his knee joints while falling was nothing compared to the true power she held within her. His face contorting from the pain, he felt his organs rupturing.
" Keep Rin safe for me!" Sesshoumaru screamed out as the pain became too much for him to handle. With the last word rolling off his lips, he sank down to a heap on the ground, dead, blood seeping from his slack mouth, eyes staring at everything, but never seeing any thing again.
Sango, Miroku and Kohaku woke up in time to see Nianniai disappear. They looked around, seeing the damage of battle, wondering how they couldn't have heard it when they were right beside the ring. They started in fear as an inhuman cry escaped Inuyasha's lips as he saw his brother, dead, blood dripping with agonizingly slow from his mouth. Struggling to get up, he shook off the offered help of Miroku and Kohaku, staggering to Sesshoumaru's side.
" I'll keep that promise, brother," Inuyasha said as he struggled to carry his brother to a remote location, where he buried the youkai lord. Then he found enough rocks to hold up the crude sign he made. Bowing in respect for the dead, he left the area to get to camp and get his sword. As soon as it had transformed again in his hand, his claws began sharpening the blade until he had achieved a perfect killing edge. He ignored the questioning looks from his companions as he worked, finally putting the sword away before he jumped up into a tree to mourn the loss of the last of his family members, even if they had been enemies since after the hanyou was born.
Kagome, Inuyasha thought. I'll get you back, don't worry, and we'll keep Rin, as my brother wanted me to. Our child shall grow up safe. I will protect you and the pup, even if it kills me.
Above him, the stars twinkled as if it was an answer. They shone over the entire world, watching every thing that happened and, yet, feeling absolutely nothing. No remorse or sadness overcame them as they watched the events happened below them.
Shippou watched Inuyasha as he sat in the tree. The young fox demon wanted Kagome back. He felt so alone without her near by when he slept. She gave him comfort that no one had ever given him before. He looked up to Inuyasha as his father, seeing as his real dad was killed by the Thunder brothers because of a simple shard of the Shikon no Tama that he had. And Kagome, well, she was his surrogate mother. She loved him and spoiled him with some of the stuff she brought back with her from her time, especially candy. Settling down, Shippou glanced up at Inuyasha one last time before drifting off to sleep.
" Good night, Inuyasha," He murmured. " My papa."
Inuyasha's white dog-ears bent to his words and relaxed. The smile on his lips was barely visible.
" Good night, Shippou," The hanyou whispered under his breath.
Kami—god
Gomen—sorry
Oi—hey
Youkai—full demon
Hentai—pervert
Hiraikotsu—Sango's weapon
Thanks to those who reviewed and will review. Reminder. I own nothing, but i sometimes wished i did.