Chapter 17: Answers

It was crazy early in the morning, but Inuyasha had received a message from Kagome the night before saying that they needed to talk. And she sounded pissed. Since the two of them had formally gotten together, he had been much better at reading her, and usually managed to avoid major disasters. Unfortunately, he apparently did something very wrong this time. So here he was, racing to her place with it still pitch black out so they could talk before he had to get to class. He probably only made it worse by not going the night before, but Sesshomaru was chewing him out for being recorded jumping off a multi-story building without so much as a stumble. There was too much hype around that stunt. He was also displeased that Inuyasha had let Rin out of his sight.

He knocked on the door, "Kagome?"

A moment later she arrived at the door, "Come on in Inuyasha." She sounded cheerful. At 6am. A definite red flag.

Against his better judgment, he entered the house, and closed the door behind him. Before he even had a chance to remove his shoes, he heard a single word, screamed loud enough to wake the neighbors, "SIT!"

All of the sudden it was hard to breathe and his limbs felt like they weighed several tons. "Sit!" It was weird, it felt like everything was clearer, smellier, and painful. He could barely stay standing. Never mind, he couldn't and collapsed to his knees breathing hard. "Now that your youkai half is out, should I say it again and make you faceplant, or are you gonna start talking?" Yep, she was pissed.

It hurt, but he raised his arm to grab a strand of hair. Sure enough, it was silver, although the longer he stared at it, the darker it seemed to get. He swallowed, "Kagome…" Whatever she had done to him seemed to be wearing off quickly at least.

She knelt next to him and sighed. In a surprisingly gentle voice she spoke, "Please Inuyasha, why didn't you tell me? You know I'm from a shrine family, you think I don't know about youkai?" She paused, "did you think I wouldn't accept you?"

Oh. He looked away, "I didn't know. Miroku had spouted some nonsense that youkai are never good, and I'm so new to this that I didn't -"

She interrupted, "New to this?" She seemed to put it together, "wait were you raised human?" He nodded. "That's why none of us ever sensed your youki before! But then, you must've been unsealed after your father's accident, but he should've been responsible for explaining… Your half-brother! He's a full youkai isn't he?" Letting her rant and work things out herself seemed to be the best way to not get, whatever that was, done to him again. So, he just nodded again. "Sesshomaru… darn, he must have a really good seal to go undetected."

Inuyasha nodded, "our father made them."

"So Izayoi is the human parent." Another nod. "Ok that fits. So who is your father exactly? If your family is loyal to the Inu no Taisho directly, he must be pretty powerful."

Talking with only a whisper, he clarified, "he is the Inu no Taisho."

"But I've met him!" She didn't see the rest of Inuyasha's family very often, especially Sesshomaru, but she had met them before. She was embarrassed to have sensed absolutely nothing from them, although she couldn't recall if she had touched either one, even though with standard seals touching isn't necessary at that distance. Regardless, "darned seals. I never would've guessed such elite youkai would use seals instead of illusions. And your dad's accident, argh, it's the same one plaguing the current Inu no Taisho. It all fits."

Inuyasha was caught off guard by her laugh, "what's so funny?"

She kept laughing, "I just realized how futile your secret keeping has been."

What? "Futile? Huh?"

"Sango and I were supposed to meet the new Inu lord sometime soon to discuss the crimson vigilante's activity. I imagine it's Sango's big break since she's never been able to get involved in such a big case, and I was going to be there since I met you. The moment we saw Sesshomaru at the meeting…"

"You would've known everything," he finished. After a moment he questioned, "so I know dad always goes by his title amongst youkai, but how'd you not know Sesshomaru's name?"

She looked offended, "it's not my fault! Obviously there are ancient stories about a Sesshomaru, but he's been completely inactive amongst spiritualists for centuries. I just figured your dad had named him after some legend. Just look at your name!"

He scoffed at that knowing she was right. "If you really want to know a bad coincidence, just imagine the odds that I'm half youkai and all my friends are spiritualists. I never woulda guessed Sango too."

"Sango?" She shook her head at that, "Sango is a demon slayer."

His eyes widened, "Slayer? Ain't they the ones called in to kill troublemakers?" Realizing the situation, he added, "you don't do that… do you? Kill youkai? You're… you're just a shrine keeper?"

She nodded, "I have a lot of reiki so I can get summoned in emergencies, but normally I just maintain barriers and help purify anything that needs it. I can use a bow really well. I suppose Miroku is pretty similar, but he has a specialty blessing properties. And he's good at fighting with his staff and sutras, obviously. And Sango, well, she is a slayer trained to kill youkai. But it's usually the only low level, mindless ones. That or ones guilty of breaking laws who won't submit quietly."

Inuyasha raised a hand to scratch behind an ear that he realized wasn't there. Looking down, he realized all his hair was back to black. "So, what exactly did you do to me? It didn't feel like being purified at the shrine."

"At the shrine?" She muttered something he couldn't make out, "Souta knows?"

"Yah, but how'd you figure that out?"

"The shrine barrier wouldn't affect a sealed youkai, maybe they'd feel a small tingle but that's it. The day Souta said you visited, something had full-on triggered it. You had to be in hanyou form."

He nodded, "Yah, kid knew. But you didn't answer my question."

Resolved to speak with her brother later, Kagome looked towards his neck and answered, "beads of subjugation."

If he had his ears out, they would have flattened, "subjugation?"

She winced, "When Miroku and I suddenly sensed youki in you, we thought it was like a curse or possession. Obviously we were wrong. The beads were supposed to help purify you or catch what was in you since you wouldn't let us get close and the sutra didn't work."

"It didn't feel like purification."

"No, that was subjugation," she admitted dryly. "Using a word of subjugation, they can, well, subjugate you. And since it's bound to your youki and uses spiritual energy, it can also override a seal with enough power. I wanted to, well I had to be sure it was really you before I started raving like a madman."

With a raised eyebrow he questioned, "And you chose… sit?"

She blushed, "well I was mad at you!"

"And… are you still mad? You gonna take them off now that there's no misunderstanding?"

She reached out to take them off before a thought occurred to her, "What if you left them on?"

"Huh? And why would I wanna do that?" There didn't seem to be any benefits.

"Well, the slayers are still going to want to talk to you about your vigilante work... assuming you're still planning on doing that?" At his nod, she continued, "wearing the beads would be a show of good faith. I mean, subjugation beads are known to be really powerful. So they'd have the assurance that a single word could take you out. They'll feel a little better knowing you're hanyou, but with the beads, there's little risk for them." Looking a little unsure she added, "also, the beads sort of partner us. Unless I'm channeling reiki directly into them or use the word, they actually give you protection against me, like our shrine barrier wouldn't affect you."

"Really?" Not being affected by Kagome's reiki could actually come in handy, and he really wanted to trust her. Maybe she'd be more forgiving that he didn't trust her the first time? "But how would you explain how I ended up wearing them?"

"Well, since she made the beads for you, Kaede would know -"

"Professor Kaede?" he interrupted.

"Yah, you and Miroku take her class, don't you?"

"Why does everyone I know have spiritual powers or fight youkai! Ain't it supposed to be rare?" he ranted into the air.

She couldn't help but laugh at his predicament, "Like I was saying, she would know the timeline too well, and we'd probably have to tell Sango. Miroku figured it out first. But we could just say I had asked for the beads to help a friend, was successful and had just removed them. Then, you must've touched them when you rescued Rin, resulting in them binding to your youki. I just didn't notice because I was distracted. The picture Miroku found barely shows the beads already being there, and no one would really question it anyways. Then I just say I noticed the beads missing and tracked down the pull of reiki coming from them and found you."

Reaching down, he let the beads roll through his fingers. "And only you can use them, right?"

She nodded, "they're bound to my reiki. Not even Kaede can use them." Seeing he needed a little more encouragement, she added, "besides, I think they'd look good with your vigilante look. They're like prayer beads, and can represent hope and protection coming from you."

I'm gonna regret this, ain't I? "Alright I'll wear them."

Finally having everything in the open, the two chatted for a while longer until it was time for Inuyasha to head to class.

"Hey Kagome, I got one last question for ya."

"Hm? What's that?"

"Is the Shippo that professor Kaede and Sango know the same one that's friends with your brother?"

"Yah, why?

"You know he's a fox right?"

She blinked. "Oh right, you wouldn't know. Sango's parents were charged with handling two thunder youkai that broke a lot of laws and started hurting people. They had killed Shippo's parents too. Sango and I were both there to observe as part of our training and ended up rescuing Shippo. He decided to stick with us instead of finding foster fox parents, so he befriended my brother a bit back. Why do you ask?"

"No reason really. Ran into Shippo with your brother. Wasn't sure if the fox was the same Shippo that Sango seemed so close to. Guess she really can't be so bad if she half took in a fox kit. Sessh spoke kinda harshly about the slayers, not that he likes spiritualists either."

She smiled, "I'll set up a meeting for us all to chat. But you shouldn't worry, we're all the same friends you've gotten to know, just with a few secrets. Same as you're the same Inuyasha we know, just with fluffy dog ears."

He snorted, "talk to you later then."

"Mmhmm."

Time for class.

AN: Not too much action, but everyone is starting to come together. Hoping to have the next chapter out tomorrow. Till then!