Chapter Six:

An Angry Demon Lord

He was miles away from the village, and yet he could smell large amounts of his packs' blood. Though he likely would never admit it out loud, he now considered the odd shard hunting group his pack. He could only hold himself accountable, really, for joining up with them in the first place. However as he took a few more exploratory sniffs, he discovered both Kagome and InuYasha missing. 'Rin had better be unharmed or I will hurt someone;' he viciously thought. That was another thing he would likely never voice. Rin was like a daughter to him. The only thing that kept him from making it official was the fact it would thrust her into being his heir, and he didn't want to burden her with the duties that would follow. As he flew overhead he noticed the dead miko, Kikyo by the well, keeping a barrier over it. His first instinct was to cut her down, but he had a feeling that he should talk to the others first. So he quickly made his way over to the hut he could smell them in.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin happily cried out as she hugged his leg. He patted the top of her head, and turned his attention over to the slayer, and the monk.

"Welcome back, Sesshoumaru-sama'" the monk began. "Much has happened since you left." He just continued to stare at him, waiting for Miroku to continue. "Shortly after you left, Kikyo's shinidamachu were spotted in the distance, and InuYasha took off." He didn't fail to notice the disgust in Miroku's voice when he said his half-brother's name.

"What has he done now?"

"Oh I'll be getting to that soon. Anyhow, we hadn't stopped him, as he would still be close enough to hear and smell if there was an attack. As the day progressed, Sango-chan, Kagome-chan, and I grew uneasy. There was something bad that was getting ready to happen, but we didn't know what. So we prepared ourselves, and left Jaken-san and the kids in the village. We didn't go far, but if it was something to attack us, we wanted it to not be in the village itself. And sure enough later on in the afternoon, Naraku did attack. There were hundreds, if not thousands of demons, and yet InuYasha did not show. Eventually day turned into night, and the night into morning. We refused to stop fighting, but we were all hurt, and were quickly tiring. I was about to use my wind tunnel, saimyoushou be damned. That's when Kouga-san, Ayame-san, Ginta-san, and Hakkaku-san showed. They quickly threw themselves into the battle, and they started turning the tide into our favor." Miroku paused to compose himself. "That's when InuYasha finally decided to show up. With the use of the Tessaiga, he quickly reduced the number of demons, and we won." There was a rather lengthy pause.

"So I will need to beat him into realizing he can't ignore his pack-mates for his dead lover;" he scowled. Just when he thought his half-brother was starting to shape up, he pulls this.

"There's a lot more to it than that, Sesshoumaru-sama;" Sango finally spoke up, seeing how Miroku was choking on his words. "After the battle Kagome-chan asked him where he had been." She looked up to the rather upset demon lord.

"What was his answer?"

"He said he had been busy, and was hoping she had died in the battle." She looked up at him, obviously not wanting to say what was next. "They got into a verbal fight and after he said he wanted Kikyo's soul back, he attacked Kagome, in an attempt to kill her."

"He's DEAD!" He roared. "So the dead miko was in on this too?"

"Actually Kikyo defended Kagome-chan, and is currently keeping a one-way barrier to keep InuYasha out of Kagome-chan's time." Miroku interjected. "Kagome-chan was hurt so badly, she needed to see healers from her own time. And we can only hope that she did get to one in time."

"I see." He turned to leave the hut. "Rin, stay here and behave. I'm going to speak with Kikyo." And he quickly left.

Kikyo actually looked relieved to see him, once he came into the clearing. This was unusual as he made it clear to her, early on, that he did not like her. Though considering InuYasha's betrayal, perhaps he shouldn't be too surprised.

"Sesshoumaru-sama;" she acknowledged him with a nod.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"Keeping InuYasha out of Kagome-chan's time; she can still return, but he can not be allowed through." Oh yes, he wasn't thrilled how Kagome had been getting along with the dead miko. However he knew he would be unable to stop her, and it seems that it put her at an advantage for once.

"Why did you not show up for the battle?"

"I did not sense it." She leveled her gaze at him. "My powers have been waning. I won't be in this world much longer. I have been training her to use her powers, and once she returns I plan to have her put a more permanent seal on the well. At least until her quest is over."

"How much time do you have left?"

"If I am not attacked; two moon cycles. That should give her enough time to heal and return."

"I see. And you are certain she will return?" He didn't want to mention the possibility of her being dead, but it was there.

"She may be five-hundred years in the future; however the tiny peace of her soul I have would know if she died."

"Ah. I shall help protect the village and you then until she returns." 'And kill the hanyou should he return;' he silently added in his mind. He turned and walked out of the clearing. Just because he would keep her from harm so she could keep the barrier up, didn't mean he would stay next to her.

Meanwhile back on the other side of the well, Kagome and Kakashi were mocking bad kung-fu movies, when they heard distinct sounds of grumbling outside. Kagome turned the television off, and prepared to be bombarded with questions by her family, and the others. What happened instead was rather amusing.

They looked as if they had gone through a typhoon. Oh yes, her mother was quite the shopper. She actually felt sorry for them. So one by one the kids trudged into the house, and up the stairs to their room. And her mother, she went straight to the kitchen. Most likely to get dinner started. But still, they didn't even notice them! Iruka had been the last one in, and he noticed immediately. He was about to say something when both of them put a finger over their mouths in a shushing motion. They decided to see how long it would take the others to pay attention. So after Iruka put his bags in the room he was staying in, he quietly sat down in a chair next to them. And that's when Sakura decided she was going to check in on her patient.

"Where did Kagome go?" They heard her voice upstairs.

"What do you mean where did she go?" Sasuke replied.

"She's not there!"

"WHAT?" rang out three male voices.

Kagome had to force herself not to laugh. When the kids started running around looking everywhere except the living room for her. Even her mother had spaced out and didn't think to just look over at the couches. That apparently was too simple. Oddly enough it was Naruto that was the first teen to notice them, upon running down the stairs searching for her. Shortly after, Shikamaru lazily wandered from downstairs, who sat next to Naruto. Again they silently told them to keep quiet and he sat on the other couch. They all desperately tried holding in their laughter, but they were sent over the edge when Sasuke was heard asking Souta why he was looking under beds for her. The five lost it, and were laughing so hard they were crying. Needless to say once they got back under control, there were four rather miffed individuals staring at them.

"Oh how I wish I had my camera." Kagome giggled out.

"And popcorn!" Kakashi added to that while snickering. Iruka and Naruto started laughing again.

"Heh;" was all Sasuke could think of to say, while glaring at Kakashi for being Kagome's leg pillow. He wasn't too keen on the pervert being that close to his cousin.

"That was mean Kagome!" Souta grumbled. Happy teenage brother, he was not.

"It's your own fault for not paying attention to your surroundings." She shot back at him, blue eyes twinkling at him.

"Well anyhow Kagome, I'm glad to see you're awake." Tsukiko quickly enveloped Kagome into a careful hug.

"Thanks Mama."

"Now, I bet you're wondering why there are so many people here." Tsukiko started in nervously.

"No, it's alright. Kakashi-san filled me in."

"Oh, well then;" she shuffled her feet for a bit. "I'll just be back to making dinner. Oden sounds good?"

"Score!" Kagome practically yelled out, startling everyone but Souta. Oh how she loves oden.

"So now that everyone is here, you can finally explain what happened." Kakashi looked at her, and she sighed.

"Yeah, I guess I do need too. But first everyone standing needs to sit down and introduce themselves to me." Anything to stall, she supposed.

"I'm Naruto!" The blonde practically bounced in his seat. She silently vowed to never allow him near sugar.

"I'm Shikamaru;" he half heartedly waved at her while yawning.

"I'm Sasuke, your cousin." Who decided to sit on the floor facing the rest.

"I heard you were;" Kagome interjected. "We'll have to hang out to get to know each other." She smiled at him, and he gave a small smile back.

"Anyhow, I'm Iruka;" he half bowed in his chair.

"And I'm Sakura;" said the pink haired girl as she sat rather close to Souta who decided to sit on the floor as well. "Oh, I think we probably should change your bandages;" she started.

"That's alright, Kakashi-san changed them earlier;" she smiled at Sakura, while both Sasuke and Souta were giving Kakashi a death glare. "But I do thank you for all the help you gave me."

"Kakashi-sensei changed them?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"Don't worry, he behaved himself." That seemed to calm everyone down for the most part.

"So what exactly did happen to you, yesterday?" Shikamaru asked her. Lazy he may be, but he was highly curious. Kagome leveled her gaze at them all in thought.

"I think it would be best if I started from the beginning." She uttered quietly.

"Of course it would." Sakura added. "You don't just talk about a battle starting from the middle of it."

"No, when I mean beginning, I mean when everything began." She paused for a moment, and took a deep breath.

"Everything began on my fifteenth birthday, when I went to go get Buyo out of the well shed, and a centipede demon the size of a train pulled me in."