A/N it's so hot tonight. They said it would cool off. THEY LIED!!! I just watched the saddest, strangest, darkest movie thing. Pan's Labyrinth. I cried at the very end. They really aren't lying when they say it's a dark adult fantasy. I'm not sure whether I liked it or didn't. YOU WILL ALL HATE ME when you reach the end of this chapter. But I promise the update will come swiftly.

Disclaimer: Noooope…

Last Chapter: Sesshomaru massacred the Okorinbou lords. Shimofuri heard of the destruction and decided that it was time to give in to Sesshomaru's power. He sent a kitsune, Aojiroi Jinsoku to find Rin. Inuyasha and Kagome fought about her leaving for her era, Kagome won and left on the mare Roba. Inuyasha ran into Jinsoku but was trapped by kitsune magic. Jinsoku ran next into Shippo, they're related. Shippo told Jinsoku that Rin was inside.

(I figure Rin's pregnancy is about in its seventh month, just for the FYI. Conception in late fall/winter. Ginrei follows by about a month.)

Blood For Blood

"Dad!" Koinu slammed open the front door and raced through it, panting. Kasai followed behind him, so winded that she'd been robbed of speech for the moment. Her straight black hair was falling out of her ponytail messily; her hands and feet were messy from the game of tag minutes ago. Her knees hadn't escaped the dirt either. Koinu appeared much the same, but that was a typical thing for the boy.

Koinu stumbled into the sitting room, tracking dirt and mud in with him. Sango and Miroku were sitting at the table, one holding Masuyo and the other trying to feed Akisame. Miroku was the first to look up when he heard Koinu's voice. He raised his eyebrows curiously, a smile quirked on his lips. "Koinu?"

The boy ignored him and shouted, "Daddy!" His blue eyes scoured the room for a second, then he scurried away and down the hall. Miroku and Sango watched him with a mixture of curiosity and worry. When their daughter appeared just behind Koinu, struggling to breathe and speak in the same instant, alarm replaced the minor worry of moments before.

"Kasai? Sweetie, what's going on?" Sango rose to her feet, leaving Akisame where she was sitting at the table with mashed food smeared over her cheeks. She frowned when she saw that her daughter had clearly been playing on her hands and knees—the front of her green and white kimono was plastered with dirt and grass stains. "Haven't I told you not to…"

Kasai, still panting, pushed her mother's worrying hands away irritably. She was the only daughter in a family of boys and it had done nothing to instill ladylike manners. "Demon." She puffed out, her violet eyes—Miroku's own but set in his daughter's small, round girlish face—were wide. She pointed with one hand back at the kitchen and the front door beyond it. "Out…side."

From down the hallway, Koinu's voice was growing higher with desperation. "Daddy! Daddy!"

Miroku rose from the table, Masuyo was still in his arms. "Kasai, watch your brother."

Kasai shook her head fervently. "Dad—"

"Don't argue with me." Miroku ordered her, sternly but quietly. As Kasai relented and crossed the room, already reaching her arms out to take her brother, Sango smiled with open appreciation at her husband. He had long ago begun leaving his staff unattended, away from his side, since they'd started their family. He carried it when they traveled just in case, but more and more over the years the famous perverted monk was more likely to be holding a baby spoon or a bottle. Nurturing his family had replaced an inherited vengeance.

As Miroku left the sitting room to retrieve their weapons, Koinu raced from the hallway. Tears were flowing down the boy's cheeks. His white dog ears—miniatures of Inuyasha's—were shaking atop his head. "Aunt Sango—where's Daddy!" he demanded, desperately.

"Inuyasha went outside…" Sango frowned with frustration. Masuyo had been screaming early that morning with teething pains. Miroku had searched for sake to numb it, but Kagome didn't have any of it on hand. They'd been letting him suck on some of Akisame's old teething rings since then. In the midst of that she hadn't seen where Inuyasha had gone or why. She changed the topic at once when she heard shouting from outside. "Is everyone all right? Kohimu, Tisoki and…"

Koinu nodded, "I think so." He reached forward and snatched her hand up in both of his smaller ones. "Auntie, it's a kitsune youkai! He was talking to Shippo—"

"Kitsune?" Sango interrupted, beginning to breathe a preemptive sigh of relief. Fox demons were often more irritating than they were actually dangerous.

Miroku reappeared then, in one arm his old staff jangled, in the other Hiraikotsu was balanced. His gaze was directed beyond Sango and Koinu toward the front door as Shippo rushed in, followed by Kohimu and Tisoki, both of them red-faced and struggling to catch their breath. Tentatively, Miroku passed Hiraikotsu to Sango. "Do you think we'll have to fight a kitsune?"

"I really don't know…" she started to reply, but then Shippo's voice rose above their murmured conversation, interrupting them.

"Where is he?" the kit called.

"Who?" Miroku asked; his grip on his staff was tighter than it appeared, Sango could make out the tenseness of his lean body, ready to spring into action if the situation required it.

"The kitsune." Shippo stammered, blinking. "He was running straight for the door—you didn't see him come through here?"

"No, we only saw Kasai and Koinu." Sango was frowning worriedly, but her mind was working overtime. "Is he dangerous?"

"No, I don't think so." Shippo's tail was shaking, it was puffier than usual, like a cat's when it's been startled. His green gaze turned toward the hallway, thinking of Rin and Tsukiyume. He swallowed thickly. "Uh oh…"

Rin had risen from bed just before Jinsoku's arrival, and as the kitsune met and spoke with Shippo, she was bathing. Tsukiyume had gone before her and was dressing quietly when the scent of the messenger youkai reached her nostrils. Tsukiyume froze, tensing at first, and then relaxed at once as she recognized the scent of the Aojiroi clan.

She turned, searching the room for the source of the scent. On the screened window, Tsukiyume could see the outline of a large fox just outside. Though it was seemingly impossible, Tsukiyume could feel its gaze digging into her. Clumsily, she sat on her futon and addressed the fox's shadow tentatively. "Aojiroi?"

The fox turned its head, its triangular ears pricked. Tsukiyume could even see the twitch of its whiskers. She closed her eyes to blink—and when she opened them again the fox was sitting before her, his mouth falling open in a very canine-grin. "Lady Tsukiyume."

"What are you doing here?" Tsukiyume demanded, whisperingly. "Inuyasha will slaughter you if he finds you for sure!"

The fox cocked its head a fraction to the right. "I have already crossed paths with him and left him inconvenienced, but time is of the essence. Where is Lady Rin?"

"She's in the bath." Tsukiyume clasped her hands together, finding that her palms were freshly damp and hot, sticky with her perspiration. "What do you need to tell her?"

The fox's face twisted, muscles rippling beneath skin and layers of fur. "Shishi-sama will no longer be able to keep her safe; he will not harbor her against Sesshomaru's wrath."

Tsukiyume's face was blank. Her response was slow in coming. "She won't be pleased."

"I was also meant to inquire as to her health, yours as well." The fox's tongue lolled as he grinned all over again. "Shishi-sama has instructed me to bring you back home at once."

"She's…doing well." Tsukiyume stammered, blinking. Shimofuri was desperate and pulling back, trying to save his own skin. Tsukiyume felt her heart hammering; she was filled with a mixture of relief and wild fear. Rin's flight from Sesshomaru, and his predictable, heartbroken rampage, had always loomed on Tsukiyume's mind as a weak choice for her older brother. Taking on Sesshomaru was just too much for Shimofuri, and Tsukiyume had no desire to see her brother die and lose his lands, their heritage, and their name.

"The child?" the fox asked, daring to be direct now. "How has she faired?"

Tsukiyume's ears laid flat. "She's fine, in all ways." She replied stiffly.

The fox nodded, ducking its head in a small bow, as if to apologize. "I can sense the indecision inside you, Lady Tsukiyume." His voice had grown softer, almost with what could've been called caring, "But what your brother has decided to do, it was brought on by a terrible twist in circumstances. He has chosen to take you and Lady Rin back into his custody to try and settle with Sesshomaru."

This news brought an angry frown to Tsukiyume's face. "All of this was a mistake, shishi-sama should never have let Rin do this—Sesshomaru will kill him for sure." She struggled, trying to keep her voice steady, but feeling her chin quiver and tears prickling her eyes. "Rin will never go back to Sesshomaru."

The fox shifted his weight, cocking his head again. "She has no choice. She is his mate, she has his first child. By all natural laws, if he has not released her willingly, she has no right to leave him."

The laws and minds of youkai were different from humans. A woman might leave her cheating lover while pregnant with his child, but the mate of a youkai was bound to her mate by blood. Unhappy couples were more likely to kill one another than to leave. In some ways, Tsukiyume wondered if that was what Rin would do the moment she was left alone with Sesshomaru. In her time away, Rin had done little healing as far as Tsukiyume could see. She didn't speak of Sesshomaru at all; in fact she pretended he didn't exist. Even the child in her belly, growing steadily more apparent in her curving abdomen, she seemed to ignore at least verbally. Rin was a mass of confusion, lost, and caught between order and chaos. Whatever would heal her, it didn't seem to be distance.

"Rin won't ever see it that way." Tsukiyume muttered, frowning. She had neglected to throw in a proper title for the other woman, and this made the fox thump his large, bushy tail—a scolding motion, like making a tsk sound with his tongue.

"Since Lady Tsukiyume and Lady Rin left shishi-sama," the fox began his explanation in a small, distant voice, "Sesshomaru has torn apart the Middle Lands. Lord Arasoizuki is dead. Lord Sasugainu has chosen to side with Sesshomaru to avoid death."

Tsukiyume interrupted the fox, her mouth falling open widely in shock and alarm. "Uncle Sasugainu?" she croaked.

The fox nodded solemnly. "Sesshomaru has sought out and killed the human Okorinbou samurai clan on his lands. He has amassed his armies and has begun advancing for shishi-sama." The fox pinned Tsukiyume meaningfully with his eyes. "Lady Rin is shishi-sama's only bargaining tool, and currently it seems Sesshomaru has decided it is not enough."

There was so much news; so many shocks…Tsukiyume felt warm wetness flowing down her face, tears. "Then Sesshomaru has lost his mind and we're all done for."

"You and Lady Rin must return to shishi-sama." The fox reiterated, sternly.

Tsukiyume shook her head, scowling. "That isn't going to work!" her voice had grown higher, she sounded as if she were about to break into wild sobs.

The fox curled his lips with irritation. "This is what I was sent to tell you, Lady Tsukiyume. It is what your brother wishes for you."

Tsukiyume's ears were quivering wildly, her eyes roved over the room wildly though unseeingly as she thought frantically for a solution. "It's not enough to stop him from killing Shimofuri."

The fox made a snuffling noise, as if sneezing. "You must come with me." his ears folded backward. "This house is in an uproar; Inuyasha will return soon and stop us."

Tsukiyume could hear it clearly too, Koinu was running up and down the hall, calling out for his father. She closed her eyes tightly, her mind turning and curling in over itself. What would stop Sesshomaru dead in his tracks? What would paralyze him?

"You must hide, Aojiroi." Tsukiyume ordered him, her voice was tight and strained.

He ducked his head to acknowledge her request. "I can do that—but why? You must bring Lady Rin and come with me."

"She won't come with us—she would never come with you, Aojiroi. You should leave now and get away from here." Her ears were still quivering; tears sparkled in her orange-brown eyes.

The fox's gaze softened with affection. "I cannot return to your brother empty pawed." He replied, dropping the formality and speaking to her as if they were equals, or friends.

Tsukiyume closed her eyes, drawing a deep breath. "Hide here, I will write shishi-sama a letter explaining myself. I..." she swallowed thickly, "I will save him and deliver Rin back to Sesshomaru myself."

The fox's fur, on his back and his tail and around his neck, all bristled at once. "You cannot, my lady…"

"Hide!" Tsukiyume hissed. Footsteps were coming down the hall, thundering like a herd of elephants. The fox made a small noise, a grunt, and then he shrunk before her eyes, twisting down and melting into a new, different shape. Soon he sat on the floorboards as a small carved stone, small enough to fit into Tsukiyume's palm. She scooped him up and pushed the stone beneath her blankets, messing them up.

Kohimu and Shippo burst into the room, the human boy forced the screen door aside, the kitsune youkai appeared with a puff of air. Tsukiyume reached for her covers, as if to cover herself up, but stopped as she realized that she had long since dressed and the motion would look silly.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, trying to sound irritable and not frightened.

"I'm sorry, Tsuki," Shippo replied gently, "We're looking for a kistune youkai." He blinked at her confusedly. "You haven't smelled him?"

Aojiroi's scent was all over the small room. Tsukiyume felt her face flushing red. "I was perfuming my hair—no." she lied. Even more incriminating was the fact that the scent of her hair oils was long since diminished. She hadn't used them since yesterday.

From the opposite end of the hall, Tsukiyume hears Sango and Rin speaking together. Sango, the only woman aside from Tsukiyume and Kasai, had been the one to enter the bathroom to check up on her. Now Rin was out of the bath, wrapped in a loose robe, and coming into their room to dress. Her face was pale as she entered, Sango followed closely behind—there was a small, thin sword at her waist, Tsukiyume noticed.

Rin glanced at the boys with annoyance. "Leave." In spite of the harsh command, her voice was shaking.

Shippo and Kohimu gave nervous, clumsy bows, and scooted past Sango. Shippo closed the door behind them as they exited.

"I didn't know you had a sword, Lady Sango!" Tsukiyume announced, laughing nervously. Mentally she smacked herself at how stupid and paranoid she knew she sounded. She smiled, trying to look stupid and young and ignorant.

Apparently the attempt succeeded, Sango threw her one perplexed glance and then turned her attention to Rin. "What would a messenger be doing here? Has he already spoken with you?"

Rin settled on her futon, which was next to Tsukiyume's but pressed against the wall and closest to the window. Her face was tight and pale; her long black hair flowed wetly around her face, still dripping. "No, he hasn't."

"Shippo said that the kistune wasn't sent by Sesshomaru, does that sound right to you?" Sango asked, her face was troubled, worried.

Rin pulled some of her hair forward, running her fingers through it. Her fingers shook, her face contorted with a grimace as her fingers snagged in her hair, pulling painfully. "I don't know." Her voice was weak.

Sango sighed gently, seeing how the news affected Rin so strongly. "I'm sorry." She murmured, then, slowly, she sat alongside Rin on the futon and reached tentatively for the other, younger woman's hair. "Let me help you."

Tsukiyume watched them, her ears falling backward. Rin allowed Sango to begin combing her hair, something she had begun to insist on doing herself. Now she let Sango act as a mother or a maid while she sat on the futon, shivering in her thin robe, water still rolling over her ivory skin. It would be cruel to turn over the traumatized Rin, but when it came down between her brother—flesh and blood—and the runaway mortal mate of Sesshomaru, Tsukiyume would choose her kin every time.

But nothing would go as planned, not for Rin, not for Tsukiyume, not for Shimofuri, and not even for Inuyasha.

From the opposite side of the house, a thumping sound ricocheted over the walls, then Koinu's voice rang out happily. "Daddy!"

Footsteps thudded heavily over the floorboards, entering the hallway and then reaching the door to Rin and Tsukiyume's room. He flung open the screen door without hesitation. "You!" he screamed, jabbing one clawed finger at Rin, "Get out of my house!"

Sesshomaru's army had not yet left the Western Lands. They stayed gathered, waiting for orders, thirsting for blood—but no order came from their leader for several days after the slaughter of the Okorinbou. They knew through rumor and story that they had been gathered to right a wrong against Sesshomaru, involving the loss of a mate. Most of them could relate to that in some way or another—a loss of some loved one as a hostage, in a war, by a rival. Most of them were ready to fight for Sesshomaru whether the cause was justified or not.

But not fighting was truly tiresome. Oushi led them in-field, and reported to Sesshomaru almost daily, waiting anxiously for orders. The problem was that Sesshomaru was like a phantom. He didn't pitch a tent, didn't find a building to occupy as general. Instead he haunted the dark forest on one side of the camp, usually on a cliff that overlooked the army below him. That was where Oushi was able to meet him, usually at dusk.

Then, unexpectedly, Daken appeared at the camp. Oushi met with him and learned that the old inuyoukai was eager to meet with Sesshomaru.

"You have news?" Oushi asked eagerly.

Daken grinned openly. "I have news that might bring Lord Sesshomaru out of skulking in those trees."

At dusk, Oushi and Daken ascended the hill, entering the deep, dark forest, and waited as the sun set. As the shadows lengthened and faded, as the sky flashed its last color, rich in yellows, oranges, and reds, they at last scented Sesshomaru nearby.

"Lord Sesshomaru." Oushi called, ducking in an abbreviated bow. Daken did the same, stiffly. The older inuyoukai was excited and the emotion hindered his limbs, making him appear older than he was when one looked at his body. If they could see his face, however, they would think he was far younger.

Sesshomaru appeared, bright against the blackness of the forest, about a hundred feet away. Seemingly he stepped clear of a large, towering pine tree, allowing Daken and Oushi to see him openly. Sometimes he had never bothered to show himself to Oushi, but today he not only appeared, he began walking forward slowly and steadily. His golden eyes were fixed heavily on Daken.

"Oushi." He acknowledged the younger inuyoukai without even glancing at him, "Daken."

They rose from their bows and waited as Sesshomaru finished his approach, coming to stand within twenty feet of them. The lord of the Western Lands was dressed in full battle regalia. His haori and hakama were more red and blue now than white, his sash however was still a bright, startling yellow. His armor was spiked and covered over his shoulders, stomach, and back—but not his legs, never his legs. They had to be unencumbered at all times to allow for speed. Also, unusually, he had pulled his hair high and out of his face. Except for the elegant, red-purple stripes on his cheeks, he was almost the mirror image of his infamous father, the great Inutaisho.

"Daken." Sesshomaru called, coldly.

"Lord Sesshomaru." Daken ducked his head again, his voice shook slightly.

"You have returned to me. I warned you not to come back unless you had…" somehow, though it shouldn't have been possible, the great Lord of the Western Lands stumbled wile he spoke. It was an embarrassing, telling thing for him to do while dressed so nobly, while he stood poised for a war. "…unless you had word of her."

Oushi kept his eyes on the ground, praying that Daken had returned with something good—enough to soothe Sesshomaru. It didn't seem possible. Months had passed and there had been nothing from Daken. Sesshomaru had waited, but part of that wait sprang from having lost hope. Sesshomaru was not really a patient creature, not at all.

"I have word, my lord." Daken announced, daring to meet the younger inuyoukai's gaze directly. What he saw there made him look away almost immediately. Sesshomaru's hawk-like golden eyes were lit heavily from within, glowing hauntingly. He looked like Inutaisho returned from the dead.

"Speak." Sesshomaru ordered him.

"In the east, near the coast, I heard a rumor beginning. A refugee from the Middle Lands, passing into the coastal plains—a youkai of justice, a punisher of wrongdoings—two women. The story came from three bandits that were put to death in that region recently. They tried to attack two women on the road—alone. They were dressed richly, but when they were attacked they fought back and killed most of the bandits. The men swore that only one of them was youkai—inuyoukai. The other was a mortal woman who wielded a youkai blade." Daken smirked and shifted nervously as his tale finished. Sesshomaru's expression hadn't changed; he was more like stone than he was a real, living creature hearing rumor of his lost lover.

"Did you hear the name of the youkai blade?" Sesshomaru asked, distantly.

"No—but its attack made the men fall to the ground and convulse. They died within minutes. The description that I gained from one of the bandits' surviving companions described Lady Rin and Tsukiyume perfectly." Daken's voice intensified slightly as he reached his point. "She is on the coast, my lord."

"You do not have a specific location?" Sesshomaru's lips quirked once, turning downward. It was a very bad sign.

Daken chuckled nervously, his voice quavering. "No, Lord Sesshomaru." He cringed, as if about to turn tail and run, but Daken was too old to flee, too accustomed to obedience. Oushi, at his side, was cringing more openly, expecting a slaughter.

It didn't come. Sesshomaru had fallen silent, his golden eyes had unfocused, he was seeing through Oushi and Daken as he turned inward. The forest animals squeaked and howled around them as the minutes dragged onward. The distant smell of smoke from the army's campfires reached Oushi and Daken's sensitive noses. At last, Daken called Sesshomaru's name timidly. "Lord Sesshomaru?"

The inuyoukai's eyes flicked up to Daken, seeming to light up the blackness of the forest. "The coast." He repeated, and his lips disappeared into a thin, heavily compressed line. His eyes widened, his jaw squared with rage.

Daken opened his mouth to ask if Sesshomaru would desire him to end his own life for failing him, but at that moment Sesshomaru spoke to Oushi sharply. "Prepare the army. Have them march for the border of the Middle Lands, for the Hokubo and Sasugainu."

Oushi bowed, "Yes, my lord."

"Send messengers to Sasugainu informing him of my plans."

"Yes, lord." Oushi had not yet risen from his bow.

"Leave—Daken, you will accompany him."

Stunned at the reprieve from the death he'd expected, Daken stammered, "Lord Sesshomaru—have I displeased you with my news? Was it not sufficient?"

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes in a glare of annoyance. His voice was dark and firm now. "You have done well, Daken. I will give you new orders when I return from the coast."

The old inuyoukai bowed, sweat from his profound relief poured over his forehead, dripping onto the leaf litter and pine needles below their feet. "Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru."

"Get out of this house!" Inuyasha screamed again when three pairs of female eyes gawked back at him blankly. He was enraged, dirt smudged over his face, dirtied his hakama and haori, twigs and leaves were caught in his long flowing hair. His hands were fisted at his sides, clenching and unclenching.

"Inuyasha…" Sango began, rising to her feet uncertainly, but the hanyou snapped at her, silencing her attempt to soothe him.

"Get out of here Sango; I'm not talking to you."

The demon slayer frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine, Inuyasha." She passed by him stiffly and threw him a glare that said clearly, Kagome will hear about your behavior later.

When she was gone, Inuyasha resumed his attack. "I won't have you endangering us anymore, bitch!" he was glaring pointedly at Rin, but his focus changed to Tsukiyume when Rin failed to look back at him or challenge him in any way. "Take her—cousin—and get out! Go back to Shimo-kun!"

Koinu had followed his father down the hallway and was now hiding just out of sight, his ears flattened, his eyes pooling with tears. He whimpered with fear audibly when Inuyasha stopped yelling for a moment. "Daddy…"

More bawling started from the other room—Akisame was reacting the exact same way to her father's raging. She called out unintelligibly for her mother, father, and brother.

Inuyasha frowned, turning his attention from Tsukiyume and Rin to stare at Koinu. His ears drooped pathetically. "Koinu—stop that! Don't cry!" his scolding, although not overly harsh, made his young son start to sob outright.

The pup raced forward and wrapped his little arms around his father's leg, pressing his face into the hakama. "Daddy—Momma says she's my aunt!" he pulled on his father's pants, blubbering.

"Dammit!" Inuyasha growled, rubbing his face with his hands despairingly. Why did Kagome always undermine him? She wasn't even there to fight him on the topic and he still couldn't boot Rin out on her ass. What was worse was that Koinu would know that Rin was related to them—the child inside her would smell strongly like their family. Koinu was too young to understand the greater dangers, the problems with keeping the runaway Rin with them. All that he understood was that Rin had acted as his teacher for several weeks now and he had grown fond of her—and her scent compelled him instinctually to fight for her.

Tsukiyume took the moment of pause in Inuyasha's ranting to leap into action. She moved from her futon and knelt in front of Rin. "Lady Rin—please, we can't stay here any longer."

Rin was shaking, but she lifted her eyes to stare back at Tsukiyume when she spoke to her. "Where else will we go?"

"I will take you." Tsukiyume announced, quietly whispering, "I'll…" she paused, feeling her heart pounding, her mouth drying up, "I can take you to his wife."

Rin frowned. "He would find me there." She was perplexed, but at the same time there was a gleam in her dark eyes, a thought that was barely repressed, barely restrained just beyond.

"You could meet her." Tsukiyume snatched Rin's hand and stammered, feeling her courage failing. The darkness of what she was saying, the idea of it…she could succeed or fail horribly, but she guessed that Rin would be unable to fight the baseness of her emotions, the hurt, the betrayal. Tsukiyume could manipulate the jilted girl into leaving Inuyasha's home and heading for the Isei—and then, once they were there, they could use Ginrei as a hostage, forcing Sesshomaru to cease his hostility and leave Shimofuri alone. And Tsukiyume would hand Rin over to him…

"I don't want to meet her." Rin snarled, her fire at last returning. She ripped her hand out of Tsukiyume's.

Tsukiyume dropped the bait, knowing it would destroy Rin all over again, forcing her to commit to Tsukiyume's dark suggestion and the manipulation that would follow. "His wife is pregnant, you know."

Rin froze, staring at Tsukiyume, wide-eyed. Her mouth had fallen open slightly, but she didn't speak or even breathe through it.

"Your baby and hers will be almost the same age—siblings." It should've been a hint to Rin that Tsukiyume's ears were steady, but the girl missed it in her fresh pain. That Tsukiyume wasn't showing the right emotion, that it was a lapse in her character, didn't reach her. Only the fresh revelation—and the searing pain that she had kept buried for so many months.

Rin placed her hands over her belly, her face hardened; her eyes stared through Tsukiyume now, not seeing her.

"Hey!" Inuyasha interrupted them. Koinu was in his arms now, crying against his shoulder. Akisame was screaming in the other room still. "I haven't finished with you two. I want you out of here! Today!"

Rin turned to face him now, snarling. "Get out of the way and we'll be gone."

Inuyasha's ears pricked up, as if he couldn't believe her words. "What?"

"We're leaving—just like you want. Now get out so I can get dressed."

The hanyou regarded her doubtfully, apparently certain that she was lying, but he moved out of the doorway anyway and slid the door shut loudly behind him.

When they were alone, Rin ordered Tsukiyume immediately. "Help me get dressed."

At first Tsukiyume wondered if Rin had reverted to her royal persona, one that she'd abandoned after they'd left the Middle Lands together because it was something she felt Sesshomaru had instilled in her, and not natural at all. But as she gathered up a few of Rin's older, more elaborate robes, she realized that Rin was unable to dress herself. Her fingers shook, her breathing was erratic, her shoulders shook. The news of Ginrei's pregnancy, so close to her own, had truly shaken the other woman.

When Rin was dressed, her hair combed and piled atop her head as well, she left to get food for their journey and for a little breakfast for herself. Tsukiyume declined and stayed inside the room until Rin had left. She closed the screen door and hurriedly went to one of the small cupboards in the walls of their room to fetch an inkwell, a brush, and paper. It was mismatched paper, a little of the horizontal blue lines that Kagome used for "English lessons" but Tsukiyume turned it sideways and used the blue lines so that they were vertical instead.

The fox reappeared behind her, huffing and breathing loudly. Apparently the transformation took great effort from him. He sat at her side tensely. "My lady, what are your plans? Why would you take Lady Rin to Sesshomaru's wife?"

"Because he won't ever see it coming, and it gives me control over him." she blew impatiently on the ink and folded the paper up. "I can save Shimofuri this way."

The fox looked doubtful. "Please, be careful, Lady Tsukiyume. Lord Shimofuri would never wish you to do this for him."

She held the note out to him and the fox lifted his head, exposing a loose cord of hemp around his neck. A few cords of it were left untied for just this purpose. Tsukiyume tied the note into the hemp collar carefully, though her fingers were clumsy.

At last the fox pulled away from her and bowed. "I pray you and Lady Rin have safe travel and that soon we will see each other again in the Middle Lands with shishi-sama."

Tsukiyume nodded and bowed to him as well. "I'll pray for the same, Aojiroi. Safe travel."

The fox turned and vanished. Outside the screened window, Tsukiyume saw its shadow dash away, fading.

They left only a short time later, after Miroku brought Roba back from the well where Kagome had left the mare to graze. Miroku, Kohimu, Tisoki, Shippo, and Sango helped pack the horse up with supplies for the journey. Inuyasha watched irritably from a distance, tending his two crying children. Akisame cried because Kagome was gone, Koinu cried because Akisame was crying and because Rin was leaving and because Kagome was gone. Kasai stayed with Koinu, trying to cheer him up too.

"I would pay you for keeping me here," Rin told Inuyasha, "but you have refused my offer in the past." She had regained her composure, though it was cold and stiff. She effected a very refined imitation of Sesshomaru, though she likely didn't mean to.

"Feh." He grumbled, "You can pay me by leaving before Kagome gets back."

Rin ignored his ill temper. She was holding a small, thin sheath. The handle of the blade was small and carved from stone. It was ivory-white. Characters were scrawled just beyond the handle, at the very base of the blade. Rin pulled it out slowly, pushing it toward Inuyasha across the sitting table, in spite of the growling sound he was making. "This blade is Izoukago. It was made for me to use as a child. It can be used by your children or your wife. It is meant for a human hand, but it will defend against powerful youkai. It feeds off ill-will. Your foes' own hatred will empower the blade."

Inuyasha looked between Rin and the blade, uneasily. "Can I have it changed for Koinu?"

The boy, when his name was mentioned in conjunction with the blade, forgot his tears. He made a small gasping sound and stared at his father and then at Rin. Akisame, in her father's lap, was grunting and reaching for the sword already.

Rin nodded. "It is yours." She tried to smile, but her eyes were hollow, empty.

Inuyasha paused only a moment longer, than snatched the sheath from Rin and pulled it closer. Tentatively, he touched the blade—only to feel it sparking lightly against his fingertips. He grunted. "What's that mean?"

"You have too much youkai blood."

Akisame imitated her father, crying out shrilly with her eagerness. "Daddy! Daddy!" when her tiny clawed hands landed on the handle, nothing happened. The sword accepted her touch.

Seeing this, Inuyasha gave a half-hearted grunt and, almost sheepishly, muttered, "Thanks."

Rin bowed, wordlessly.

Sango and Miroku decided it was time to head back home. Shippo also decided he would leave. They would accompany Rin and Tsukiyume for a time, keeping them company and keeping them safe. Rin offered Miroku and Sango a blade in payment as well, a small, lightweight sword called Burikko. It was a blade forged for human women alone. The couple accepted the sword gratefully. It would be passed to Kasai, their only daughter, when she was old enough to handle it properly.

To Shippo she offered a dagger, but the kit turned the weapon down, refusing to accept anything she offered. He was a fox, and foxes lived by their wits and their own powers. They didn't rely on swords or daggers.

By the time everything was prepared it was nearly nightfall. Koinu and Akisame had stopped crying, they were absorbed with goodbyes. Kasai cuddled Akisame and tweaked Koinu's ears one last time. Then the small caravan—Shippo, Kohimu, Tisoki, Kasai, Sango, and Miroku holding baby Masuyo, as well as Rin and Tsukiyume of course—at last left the estate, following the path down the mountainside for Kaede's old village.

The house was thickly silent without the crowd it had once sheltered. Inuyasha herded Koinu and Akisame into the master bedroom that he shared with Kagome, and curled up with them to put them to sleep. Although he hadn't meant to, Inuyasha found that fatigue soon brought his own eyelids down and dreams washed over him. He was making love to Kagome, pinning her beneath him when she hadn't expected it, hearing her laugh and giggle. She was pregnant, her scent washed over him—melded with both Akisame and Koinu's scents. She was going to have twins? His mind switched gears and the dream darkened. The woman beneath him was Rin then and he was repulsed—until he realized that he'd lost control of his demonic blood and attacked her.

And Sesshomaru was coming…like a tornado rushing out of the rice fields, or a water spout from over the sea…

Wind rattled the screens, violently. Inuyasha jerked awake at once, gasping. His eyes adjusted to the dark, focusing. His heart pounded inside his ears, sweat rimmed the neckline of his haori and down his back. When he moved he was sticky everywhere.

Groggily, he pulled himself from the bed. It was a long, difficult task because every movement could wake one of his children. At last Inuyasha moved to the screen and opened it slightly, peeking out into the nighttime. The wind had picked up, dust flew under the moonlight, but the stars were still visible. It was probably about midnight.

Inuyasha shut the screen quietly and slipped out of the room. What had woken him? Had Kagome returned?

The hallway was filled with moving air. A wind was rising from the kitchen—the front door was open. Inuyasha frowned worriedly. There were no lights burning inside the house; it was completely dark except for where the screens over the windows allowed some light to peer through.

The front door was wide open. Inuyasha felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He sniffed carefully, but the wind smelled only of pollens, insects, dirt, and humidity. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

He checked for Kagome's shoes on the verandah before he closed the front door. They weren't there. How long was she going to be gone? Damn that woman, always lying to me… But he was smiling as he thought it.

As he closed the door disappointedly, the hanyou was jolted from his thoughts as he at last noticed the floor. In the sliver of moonlight still coming from the door that he had almost closed, Inuyasha could see the ring of dirt around an imprint on the floor. It was in the shape of a shoe. A large shoe, similar in size to his own—but it wasn't a sandal like Miroku's; it was a boot of some kind.

Inuyasha's heart began fluttering inside him, his stomach twisted up in a knot. "No," he growled, "Fuck no…"

From the master bedroom, Inuyasha heard Koinu scream.

Horror and rage erupted inside him. No, no you fucker, NO!

"KOINU!" he ran, leaping over the sitting table that was in the way, skidding down the hallway, half on his hands and knees. Over his own rushed breathing, he heard Akisame start to scream for him.

The door to the master bedroom, which he'd closed moments ago, was thrown wide open now. Inuyasha stormed into it without thought, without hesitation. At last the scent of the intruder reached him. His eyes adjusted after a single blink, but by scent he already knew who was threatening his family.

"Sesshomaru!"

The Lord of the Western Lands, Inuyasha's older brother, and his children's uncle, stood towering over the futon where Koinu and Akisame had been sleeping innocently, mere seconds ago. Akisame was now in the corner of the room, screaming desperately for help and crying her brother's name despairingly. Koinu was pinned against Sesshomaru's chest, against hard, poking armor, and with his uncle's clawed, poisonous hand wrapped around his little face. Koinu was very much still alive, the pup was clawing, kicking, and screaming past the inuyoukai's hand.

Inuyasha reached instinctually for his waist, for Tetsusaiga, only to remember that the blade was stashed underneath the futon. Sesshomaru stood between him and the blade. He was growling continuously in the back of his throat, his arms and legs were shaking with rage.

"Get your fucking hands off him, Sesshomaru!"

Sesshomaru turned slowly to face Inuyasha. Even in the dark, Inuyasha could see his older brother's eyes were red as rage took over the hawk-like gold.

When Sesshomaru spoke it was loud and harsh—more so than Inuyasha had ever heard his brother. "I can smell her—but she isn't here. Where is Rin?"

Sesshomaru shifted his hand over Koinu's mouth, pressing harder. The boy cried harder, flinching. Fat tears rolled out of his eyes. "Tell me or your son dies."

A/N: Okay, yes, I know. You will hate me, strangle me if you could, but I promise, deep breaths, it'll pass...and then before you know it the next one will come. :-)