That Night At the Inn

Peace

"The trail ends here." Miroku sighed as he and Sango left a village.

The blood trail ended long ago, but after that they had caught the rumors of a badly burned demon that had been seen going this or that way. They followed those as long as they could but the trail finally went cold.

"The important thing is that she survived that explosion." Sango looked towards the well in worry. InuYasha wouldn't like that at all. "And if she survived she'll try again."

"It's too bad we lost her." Miroku shook his head.

"Hey! You two!"

They turned as a villager came running up. He stopped before them, pausing to catch his breath before standing. "You two are the ones looking for rumors on that demon, right?"

"Yes." Miroku nodded once. "Do you know something?"

"Well, it might be nothing," he admitted, "but a few days ago, some travelers came by. They said they saw a man wearing a white animal pelt found an injured woman and carried her away. They said he flew right into the sky! It was such a fantastical story that not many others believe it. But, well, I think some things are too weird to make up, right?"

"Miroku." Sango looked at him, her eyes suddenly filled with fear. Where they were concerned, white animal pelts always meant Naraku. "That man must be..."

Miroku nodded. "Thank you, sir."

"Wait, I have more." he continued. "The travelers say he flew west, carrying the woman with him."

"West, huh?" Miroku thought it over for a moment. "Thank you, my good man."

"No problem." the man smiled then turned and walked back to his village.

"Naraku's gone west." Sango repeated. "Should we follow?"

"Of course." Miroku said looking in the direction of the setting sun.

"But InuYasha-"

"-is not here and if he was would insist on following the lead." Miroku finished for her. "We have no choice, Sango. With Naraku involved, if we don't take every opportunity we're given, we'll never find him."

Sango nodded once, her face setting with determination. "You're right. We have to follow the lead."

They turned and started walking further and further from home

XXXXXXXXXX

Kikyo was watching the setting sun.

This time, she was making sure her barrier was up, powerful, and impenetrable.

She needed time alone, she needed to think.

She wished she could think.

Every time she tried to bring a coherent thought into her head it blew away like smoke in the wind.

InuYasha was having a baby.

That was the only, single, thought that ran around and around in her mind with dizzying speed.

A baby.

Unbidden, an image of her, holding a beautiful, black haired babe, with a human InuYasha behind her flew into her mind.

That thought didn't blow away, she had to banish it herself.

It was something that had once been a dream and now was just impossible.

Especially since InuYasha was having a baby with Kagome.

Kikyo wasn't really sure what it was she was feeling. Her thoughts and emotions were in turmoil, everything unsettled and murky. Like stirring up the muck and mire at the bottom of a pond, clouding the water with uncertainty, darkness, and confusion.

She needed to think.

She wished she could.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Just a bit longer." Hakaku said, poking the cooking meat, trying not to drool.

"This is going to be so good." Ginta grinned greedily, not caring that he was drooling.

Behind them, InuYasha and Kouga were rolling around, punching and beating each other senseless.

Hakaku and Ginta saw them, shrugged, and ignored them in favor of the food. After all, it wasn't the first time they had tried to go at it.

And, without Kagome nearby, there was nothing to stop them from finally getting it out of their system.

"Jealous, mangy wolf?" InuYasha asked, smirking as he slammed his fist into Kouga's jaw.

"Damn mutt!" Kouga slammed his into InuYasha's side. "What the hell did you do to Kagome?"

"Nothing she didn't ask for!" InuYasha grunted as he deflected another punch.

Hakaku and Ginta turned from their food for a moment to watch them. They weren't really worried.

It wasn't a battle. If it was, InuYasha wouldn't have tossed his sword aside and Kouga would be using his powerful legs.

No, this was just a fight. Men fought sometimes, and it was a brawl that was long overdue. So neither of them worried. In fact, it might even be good for them to finally cool their hot heads by taking a few punches out on the other.

So they turned away and instead watched the sizzling meat with anticipation.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I'm a bit worried." Mama Higurashi admitted as they stood at the top steps of the well house. "She said she would be back. Why hasn't she come back."

"Don't worry, baby." Gramps patted her arm. "She has the pendant, don't forget."

"I know, daddy." Mama Higurashi bit her lip. "But...what if it doesn't...well, work?"

"Nonsense." Gramps tossed his head. "That pendant was blessed by the founder of our shrine, an extremely powerful priest. The scrolls say that all it needs is a bit of spiritual power to...jump start it, I guess. And Kagome has my power, maybe even more."

Mama Higurashi smiled. "Yes, that's true, daddy. And InuYasha is there. I really have no need to worry."

"There you go." Gramps patted her arm. "Now, how about something spicy for dinner? I'm in the mood for curry."

He turned and started shuffling back to the house.

Mama Higurashi stood and watched the well for a moment longer; on the off chance that maybe her daughter would appear, perfectly safe.

But nothing happened so, with a sigh, she shut the doors and turned to follow her father.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kagome sat quietly, watching the remnants of the fire as the stars began to shine in the sky.

The sky here, free from city lights and pollution, was always so much clearer, so much more beautiful, in the past. There was nothing quite like the night sky.

But tonight, Kagome found no solace in the twinkling stars.

Little Rin was curled up next to Jaken, both of them sleeping against the belly of Ah-Uhn. Not unlike how Shippo would sleep with Kirara, she thought with a bit of a smile.

Sesshomaru was awake, standing beside the river looking up at the sky. He appeared to be deep in thought.

Kagome stood and started walking towards him.

As he said, he brought back an enormous boar for her to eat. InuYasha rarely hunted that. It was big and there was a lot of meat on it, way too much for them to finish.

However, tonight, Kagome found that she ate a lot more than she really should. Rin had a share, as did Jaken, and Ah-Uhn gobbled up the guts and skin happily. But Kagome ate the majority of it. There was a little left over that Sesshomaru, who hadn't eaten it at all, said she should save and eat throughout the night as she became hungry.

He was being extraordinarily kind, especially for Sesshomaru. It was a bit disconcerting actually. Then again, maybe it wasn't quite so odd as it felt. After all, he clearly took care of Rin who seemed happy and well cared for. There were children in the future that had no such happiness in their lives. In fact, if Kagome wasn't wrong, the flying dragon Ah-Uhn only began traveling with Sesshomaru after Rin did. As if the great dog demon provided him to protect and care for her.

She even felt relatively safe approaching him.

"Uh, Sesshomaru?" Kagome said softly as she came up behind him.

She saw a flash of light that was his eyes darting to her face then away. It was as much of an acknowledgment that she would ever get.

"I, well, I guess I wanted to thank you." she came up beside him and smiled up at what was, for all intents and purposes, her brother-in-law.

He said nothing.

"You've taken better care of me than I had any right to expect." she continued. She saw his eyes tighten at those words.

Why would that bother him? As if a compliment was an insult?

"I suppose I was just wondering, 'why'?" she asked. "You don't owe me anything-"

"I do." he cut her off. "There was a time that you protected Rin in my absence. It was a debt I had yet to repay."

"But you repaid it just by protecting me from that demon." Kagome paused, distracted. "I never did ask, what happened to her?"

"She presumed to order me around," Sesshomaru said without apology, "she paid the price for it."

"She's dead?" Kagome asked.

"Does this bother you?" he finally turned to look at her.

Kagome shook her head. "No. I guess...it's just a bit...I don't know. Unexpected. My enemies don't usually die that easily."

"She carried Naraku's scent." Sesshomaru threw out, watching her face.

"Crap." Kagome felt her shoulder's slump. "He helped her. He might even know about the baby."

"Possible." Sesshomaru nodded once. "It is, of course, you and InuYasha's fault for getting pregnant now."

"We were drunk." Kagome said, pretty sure that really wasn't a good defense. "That sounds bad, doesn't it? It was demon sake, if that makes it better. Not sure how it would though."

"You must go somewhere safe." Sesshomaru said. "Somewhere to bare the pup in peace."

"I need to go home." Kagome agreed. "But, I'm worried about InuYasha. He should have returned to the well by now. Maybe it's taking Totosai longer to fix Tessaiga than it did last time."

Sesshomaru gave no answer. Instead, he said, "Go to sleep. You need rest."

"Which brings me to my next question." Kagome looked back at him. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"You would prefer I kill you or leave you to die?" he looked at her as well.

"Of course not." Kagome shook her head. "It's just...not like you at all."

Again, Sesshomaru gave no response. At least, not a verbal one. Instead, he turned his head and looked back at the sleeping Rin.

Kagome followed his gaze and wondered what on earth the dog demon could be thinking.

"Sleep." Sesshomaru said, breaking that line of thought before it could go anywhere. "You and the pup both need rest."

Kagome wanted to continue talking but sensed that the conversation wouldn't get anywhere else tonight. So she nodded and went to lay down on the soft grass beside the others.

XXXXXXXXXX

"A baby, huh?" Naraku smiled as he watched the scene in Kanna's mirror. "Kagome let InuYasha put a bastard in her belly. How...perfect." That Seitekina died in her own explosion without even getting close to the revenge she so desired meant nothing to Naraku.

Not when he was just given such a great gem of information.

A pregnancy. And so much could go wrong with one of those.

He would have to plan carefully.

Kagome was under the protection of Sesshomaru at the moment. The great dog demon didn't quite reach the rumors of his legendary father but he was his father's son. Naraku would have to figure out a way to get to her through him first.

XXXXXXXXXX

Seitekina opened her eyes and looked into the face of her beloved.

He had been waiting for her.

Of course he had.

All earthly things fell away.

What did they matter?

She was finally at peace.