Chapter 31: Change of Plans

Meticulously almost he inspected the still fire red metal; nodding in satisfaction as it slowly began to cool. With a final strike of hot iron against steel, Totosai removed the finished blade from the anvil, taking care that it wouldn't touch his leathery skin. "Almost done…." He muttered to himself, ignoring the woman who breathed out her impatience in reply.

"Almost done?" Kagome repeated from her seated place in front of his smithy. "I've been here for three days! How can you still not be done?"

The old swordsmith glared at her in irritation. "You commissioned me to make a sword like no other girl, you should be grateful it only took me three days!"

"But I did most of the work!" Kagome argued, grumbling under her breath when all he did was shake his head. "All you had to do was compress the magic into the sword!"

"Regardless, it is finished now," Totosai said, waving the completed blade in the air a few times. "Though I must admit….I shudder at what we have just created."

Holding up her hands, Kagome revealed the heavy cuts and scars she had obtained over the past few days. "I'm scared too, but if it works….it was all worth it."

"Very well then." The sword smith said, walking around his anvil to stand in front of her. "Will you take hold of it?"

Kagome stood and took the sword by the hilt when he offered it to her, trembling unconsciously at the power she could feel exuding from the powerful weapon. It burned a bit in her palm and as she watched it pulse and glow, her eyes widened when the aura shot up her arm, forcing her to drop the blade in shock.

"Kagome!" Totosai reached out, alarmed. "What happened?" He took a cautious step towards her, only to take several back as the girl fell to her knees in front of the sword, her eyes locked on her hands which she had turned towards her palms up. "Girl?" She didn't say anything for a moment, still looking amazed at her hands which were shaking even harder than before. "Kagome!" He called again.

"It works…." She whispered out so low the swordsmith wasn't sure he'd heard right.

"It works?"

Showing him her hands, the old man balked when he saw the now completely healed palms, not even a trace of the hard labor she had performed appearing on the soles of her paws. "It works!" She screamed out again happily, punching the air in success. "We did it!"

Contemplating her happiness, Totosai folded his hands behind his back and sighed, his mind still skeptical at what they had just made. "Yes, child….but what exactly have we done?"

"Isn't it obvious? We created the sword of life!"

Breakfast the next morning had been a quiet affair, with Inuyasha not being a morning person and Kagome seemingly lost in thought, Kikyo had taken that as a sign that she should remain silent as well, that is until the demoness suddenly asked;

"What's the sword of life?"

Both husband and wife paused in their eating to look at her cautiously, surprised by the question and unsure of how to answer.

"Keh." Inuyasha finally said, putting down his fork loaded with bacon, eggs, and pancakes. "It was a sword you and that old swordsmith made years ago."

"Swordsmith?"

"Totosai." He explained. "He used to be a master swordsmith or something, but now he's just known as the owner of the sword museum back in the city."

"Did it heal?" Kagome asked next, leaning back in her seat. "I mean….did it cure diseases and stuff?"

"Oh, it does much more than that." The half demon said.

"Does?" She repeated, noting the present tense. "You mean it still exists?"

"Yea….." He said softly, giving his wife an odd look.

Unconvinced, Kagome pressed, "Well….Where is it? And what else does it do?"

"It has the ability to revive dead souls."

Spinning around at the voice, all three kitchen occupants stared at Sesshomaru who stood in the doorway, Kaede and Ume flanking either side of him in human form. As he casually slid into the seat next to Kagome's the trio could only silently watch as the two children walked around the dining area, unsure of what to do with themselves.

Inuyasha naturally was the first to snap out of his trance. "Sesshomaru, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Yea, I thought you said you were too busy to come all the way to Hiroshima." Kagome continued to look at him sideways, ignoring the small flutter in her stomach just at his presence. "What made you change your mind?"

"I had my reasons," He answered cryptically, absently inspecting a piece of toast on the table.

"What reasons?" Ume piped up, choosing to sit at the island next to her sister. "Ojisama didn't tell us anything either," She explained when her mother eyed her critically. "He just told us to get packed up this morning and to be quiet when we got on the jet."

"I also have yet to give you permission open your mouth again," Sesshomaru muttered out, finally flinging the offending piece of hard bread back into the basket. His appetite had disappeared.

Even Inuyasha drew back at his brother's attitude. He couldn't resist asking, "Damn, why are you so grumpy?"

"And so close to New Years," Kikyo added, appearing worried.

"New Years….." At that, a smile slowly grew on Inuyasha's face, his expression akin to a Cheshire cat. "Ah….Ohhhh…."

Watching her mate, Kikyo frowned in confusion, his reaction completely unexpected. "What's going on?"

"Yea, Inuyasha looks like the cat that caught the canary….."

"He is deranged." Sesshomaru ground out, glaring daggers at the half-demon. "And his thought pattern is entirely out of line, I only came here to see the pages of Kokumajutsu with my own eyes because if necessary they will have to be removed."

Inuyasha nodded concededly. "Of course, why else would you show up here the day before New Year's Eve."

"Just what I was thinking…." Kagome muttered under her breath, her eyes remaining on the demon lord.

Addressing the demoness, Sesshomaru said a name. "Tenseiga."

She blinked in response, lost. "Huh?"

"That is the name of the sword of life." He explained, facing her fully. "Tenseiga…."

She frowned. "I created it?"

"With the help of Totosai….Yes."

"Where is it now?"

"In a secure place." The dog demon stated, standing up to make himself a cup of orange juice. "You entrusted it to me and I have kept it safe as I promised you I would."

"Well what about the ability to revive the dead, that was a project I was so obsessed with?"

Sesshomaru snorted at her word choice. "Obsessed isn't the word. You were nearly dominated by your desire to figure out how to restore life. Even Tenseiga, a sword that can revive dead souls within a certain amount of time wasn't enough for you, you needed to recreate life in its entirety." Taking a sip of his drink, his gaze turned inwards as his thoughts took a darker turn. "In hindsight, it wasn't all your fault, that you became so persistent in your goal."

Seeing the way his demeanor changed, Kagome asked yet another bold question, "It was because of Rin wasn't it….."

The dog demon froze at the name. Staring straight ahead, Sesshomaru appeared almost dejected, his eyes devoid of any emotion. Just as fast he was back to normal, and blinking himself back to reality shook his head. "You remember her."

"Her father killed her, didn't he?"

The dog demon nodded but said nothing.

Kagome swallowed the lump in her throat and continued her questioning, the memory of her dream running through her mind. "Because of me….Onigumo killed Rin because of me…." It was a statement, not a question.

"You were not responsible for that lunatic's choices. It was his decision to use his family as lab rats." Grimacing, he stared down at his glass of orange juice, he didn't want it anymore.

"But I put the idea in his head….."

"It still does not excuse his actions, no one told him to slaughter his family."

"But if it wasn't for me telling him my plan," She started to say more only for Sesshomaru to cut her off.

"We had this argument countless of times Kagome…..drop it."

The demoness whined. "But,"

Kikyo thankfully interjected. "Kagome, Sesshomaru is right, there's no point in rehashing something that happened centuries ago." All at once the two full blooded Inu blinked and looked at the ancient priestess, having forgotten that they weren't the only two in the room. "What matters now is confirming that the pages in Hojo's family shrine are indeed from the book of Kokumajutsu."

"And if they are?"

"We'll procure them and have them translated to see if they have anything relevant to our current problem," Sesshomaru answered, putting his glass down on the counter. "Right now my main concerns are the time rips and the creatures that emerge when they occur."

"What controls them?"

"Keh. That's just it, we don't know." Inuyasha grunted out. "All we can say for sure is that whenever you feel stressed or anxious, bigger demons tend to appear."

"Whenever….I feel like that?" Kagome drew back, confused.

"We can't really control how you feel, so instead Sesshomaru ordered that we just keep our distance."

"Inuyasha," Sesshomaru called in warning.

"What?" He responded, standing up from his seat. "I thought we were laying everything out in the open, we're about to see the pages of that book, shouldn't that pass for the event you said needed to happen?"

"'We don't even know if those few pieces of parchment are what we are looking for." Sesshomaru pointed out, appearing annoyed. "Until then, continue to keep some information to yourselves." That he directed at everyone in the room, Ume and Kaede nodding to assert that they understood.

Opening his mouth to protest, he promptly shut it when his brother's face took on a murderous look. "Fine…." He backed down and half-heartedly agreed, flopping back down into his chair.

"When is our engagement with your assistant scheduled?" The dog demon asked Kagome who had been silently staring down at her plate.

"Two o'clock," She answered softly.

"Good." He stated, grabbing his phone out of his breast pocket and striding diligently out of the room.

Kagome waited until he was a distance aways before asking, "What's his problem?"

"He's just nervous about New Years," Inuyasha muttered out, giving Ume a wink.

At that the second born child of Inuyasha cheered happily, leading the rest of the room to wonder what the big secret was.

A/N: Well it's certainly been a long time hasn't it? After updating Emergence I just had to add a chapter of Drapetomania. I hope you enjoyed and I apologize for the long months of not writing, but I'm back! -Theores