I opened my eyes and stared at the stars far above me. I turned my head and saw Mamoru above me. He was flying on his cloud as he carried me bridal style. "Mamoru?" I said leaning my head into his shoulder. "You saved me."
He tightened his grip slightly so as not to hurt me and leaned down to kiss me gently. "Of course I saved you. You are my mate, my love."
"How long will it take me to heal?" I asked and set my feet on the cloud so I could wrap my arms tightly around his neck no matter what the sting in my cuts felt like.
"Your arms will be healed by tomorrow and your legs a day or two after if you don't move around a lot." He said as he placed his hands gently on my hips.
"My sweet I have something to tell you." I whispered against his neck. I felt him shift slightly against my body and his arms came around me holding me flush against him. "I am carrying our pup my love."
Mamoru tilted my chin up with one hand and kissed me hard and passionately. "I know, Mai told Nozomi and that was how I knew where to find you. I am so happy my mate."
I sighed and tilted my head back to gaze up at the stars. "I am happy as well. I hope it is a boy." I said and snuggled into his chest before falling asleep.
I awoke as we settled down in front of our hut. Kagome and Inuyasha were not back yet but Sango and Miroku were sitting out front of the hut debating whether to try to look for us or wait for Inuyasha who would be returning the following morning since tonight was the new moon and Kagome had wanted him to stay in her time for the dangerous night. They turned to us when we landed and ran up.
"Oh Kami Dawn we were so worried about you." Sango said supporting me on one side as Mamoru supported my other as they helped me inside.
"I'll go fetch Lady Kaede." Miroku said and went into the hut next door.
Inside the hut one of the rooms was partially closed but I could see Nozomi's swollen tear streaked face as she slept exhausted. Shippo sat close by and ran a wet cloth over her face gently. "Dawn!" He cried and ran over. "Nozomi finally passed out a little while ago. She was terrified for you."
I patted Shippo's head and smiled at him as I sat on the ground stretching my broken legs out in front of me. "Well I am here now and I am not too hurt. Let her sleep." Mamoru sat behind me so that I could lean back against his chest and take comfort from his closeness. He helped me strip off my dirty clothes and pull on a new dark gold wife-beater and a pair of shorts so that my injuries were open to the air. Mamoru had found my boots after shuffling through the destroyed hut before taking me towards home; he understood that I would have wanted them saved and I really appreciated his efforts.
When Kaede came in she brought healing herbs and gauze to wrap my injuries. As she and Sango wrapped my arms I told them what had happened. My legs were harder to wrap. They didn't want to use splints because of all the burns and wounds but the bones were broken so they felt they had to. Finally Kaede decided that they would just bind them tightly and it would work as a splint and wrap. "Ye are very strong to be able to be calm while ye are so grievously injured."
I shook my head. "I am only strong because I had to get home to Mamoru and Nozomi. And at the end I found a new reason to be strong." Mamoru ran his hands over my stomach and Kaede's eye lit up delightedly.
"Ah. I see. This is most wonderful. Perhaps we should tell the others tomorrow though. Ye need rest." She said and shuffled from our hut. Miroku handed Mamoru a bowl of stew and Mamoru spoon-fed me. Sango and Kaede had wrapped my arms so tightly that I couldn't move them very far. When I had finished the bowl Mamoru carried me off to the side of the room and lay me down. He lay down beside me and wrapped me into his arms and finally I was able to sleep as my body wanted.
I woke the next morning to a piercing shriek and my head jerked from the floor. Behind me Mamoru moved to sit up and helped me into his lap. Nozomi had woken and had shrieked upon seeing me asleep close by. "Oh mama! I was so worried!"
She was about to throw herself onto me but Sango and Miroku grabbed her arms. "She is injured Nozomi. Don't be rough." Miroku said gently.
I smiled up at my daughter and she knelt at my side. "I am alright Nozomi. Give me a day or so and I will be just fine."
Miroku had started making breakfast when Inuyasha and Kagome burst into the hut. "Dawn! What happened?" Kagome said falling to her knees beside Nozomi.
"We could smell your blood from back at the well." Inuyasha said looking down at me. His golden eyes took in all my bloody bandages and a part of his eyes hardened in anger. He truly was the leader of this pack. He took my injuries seriously and would make those responsible pay.
"Well…Tamasine and Raku decided to pay us a little visit and took me along to spend a weekend with them. That's all." I said and reached one hand to Inuyasha and one to Kagome. Kagome grabbed the hand I held to her instantly and Inuyasha did only reluctantly, he still hadn't gotten used to how openly affectionate I was. "I am fine now. Mamoru saved me. But I did have something I wanted to tell you all." I gazed around the room at everyone. "Mamoru and I are going to have a pup."
Kagome squealed excited and Inuyasha's ears folded over his skull to block out the sound. He gave my hand a gently squeeze and nodded to Mamoru and I before he let my hand go. "That is good news." He said.
Miroku wandered over long enough to ask, "Will you continue to travel with us as you carry and after you have born the new baby?"
"Of course I will. I am in more danger sitting here than traveling with you all. Besides," I smiled happily, "I would rather be with you all than hanging out here without anything else."
Kagome squeezed my hand and turned to help Miroku with breakfast. Nozomi and Sango came over to unwrap my bandages. I had them leave the arm wrappings off since they were healing nicely but they rewrapped my legs. I held my arms out in front of me and looked at the markings Tamasine had left on me. The marks were angry and sharp but pretty in their own way. They twisted and turned trying to conquer each other as they crawled up my arms. "You know, I think that she was mad at me." I remarked thoughtfully.
"What makes you think that?" Kagome asked as she too looked over the cuts.
"Well at one point it looked like I scared her because I said I was going to return all she did to me tenfold. I think she was angry I was able to worry her." I leaned back against Mamoru and smiled up at him. I couldn't get over the happiness I felt at being close to him again. He was such a marvelous and kind man. I was even more excited I was going to be a mother.
"We need to plan how we are going to do. Do we want to hunt Naraku now, or wait till we kill Tamasine and Raku? They may be at the same place or in completely different places." Miroku said as he ate. Mamoru decided to feed me again though I was perfectly able to use my arms.
"Raku and Tamasine need to pay for this." Inuyasha snarled. Inuyasha saying that Naraku was second priority got a whole range of reactions. Kagome and I looked at him in pride; Miroku and Shippo stared in shock; Sango and Mamoru both nodded approving at him. He turned on Miroku and Shippo growling. "What?"
"You want to put off chasing Naraku?" Miroku asked incredulous.
"Those two things attacked and tortured members of my pack. They will not get away with it." He said and folded his arms into his sleeves and turned his nose up at the two. Kagome stretched out a hand and rubbed his ear for a moment causing Inuyasha to blush slightly.
Nozomi stood and took the old bandages outside to boil and when she suddenly came back in her face was pale. "I don't think we have to worry about hunting them down." She whispered before collapsing on the ground. Her back was bleeding heavily and Inuyasha and Miroku ran outside.
I stumbled over to Nozomi and quickly assessed the damage before pressing her into Kagome's arms. "She'll be alright. Watch her for me. Sango protect them."
I gripped Mamoru's hand as he helped me to my feet and grabbed a bow and a quiver of arrows with the other. When we got outside we were greeted with a terrifying sight. The villagers were huddled together with Kaede, and Miroku and Inuyasha stood in the clearing where I had killed Sayo. Ahead of them the sky was filled with giant bat demons. Tamasine and Raku stood across the clearing beneath the hovering demons and glared at us.
"Miroku, help Kaede shield the villagers." Inuyasha said quietly and after a quick look at him Miroku ran to do what Inuyasha had asked.
Mamoru stood beside Inuyasha and I kneeled to keep my weight from my lower legs and gazed back at the two demonesses. I fitted an arrow into my bow and sighted along it at the leader of the bat demons.
"You bitch!" Tamasine shouted.
"Because of you we are going to die!" Raku said pulling out her poker like a sword.
"Why because of her?" Inuyasha asked; he was fairly humming to attack the women.
"She got away before Naraku could play with her and our lives are forfeit because we failed!" Tamasine stomped her foot, much like a child would when it didn't get its way.
I laughed, "Your lives were forfeit when you grabbed me. We are going to be your death before you even see Naraku again." I loosed the arrow and it flew straight into the heart of the largest demon. The arrow was pink with purifying power and when it hit the demons, a few shriveled into dust. I had let loose one of Kagome's arrows…but how? I looked at the bow in my hand, it was Kira. "Kira we have work to do." I whispered and I felt it hum beneath my fingers. Kagome's voice came from the bow. Kira and I are with you. Nozomi hasn't woken but her wounds are bound now. I nodded and notched another arrow. This one I pointed at Raku. "Raku, you should have run." My voice was quiet but I could tell she heard it. She raised her arm and the bat demons flew towards us.
Beside me both Inuyasha and Mamoru ran towards the coming demons, they lay about with their fists and feet fighting side by side as they took down demon after demon. I watched for a moment or two but they were too fast for me to be sure of a clear shot at the demons around them so my eyes went back to the women. I drew back the arrow and I felt Kagome guiding my aim. I loosed the arrow and it slammed into the ground between Raku and Tamasine. Kagome…you made me miss.
I heard her laugh. Watch, the aura should spread and kill both. She replied and I watched the arrow. The pink surrounding the arrow did begin to spread and it touched the two women. They screamed in pain and tried to run but they were slammed into each other. For a moment the area was lit with pink but when the light cleared, someone was still there. A face looked up from the body, it was the same face that Raku and Tamasine shared but the hair was stripes of red and purple. "You bitch!" The voice that came from the person's throat was both of the girl's voices. Kagome's arrow had melded the two together. They disappeared in smoke, shrieking their fury.
I fell sideways and stretched my legs out as I watched the boys deal with the last of the demons. "Kagome, you realize you just combined the two women who were trying to kill me into one person don't you?" I said through Kira.
"I WHAT!" Kagome screamed from inside the hut.
She stormed from the hut as Inuyasha and Mamoru were walking towards us, panting slightly. "Remind me, to use my sword next time I face flying things." Inuyasha said as he squatted at my side. "What happened to Tamasine and Raku?"
"It seems that I grabbed Kira when I grabbed a bow and Kagome was able to help me use her purification powers through Kira. Unfortunately Kagome tried a trick to purify both of the twins from hell at the same time but it didn't purify them. It combined them." I said as I gazed up at the three faces looking down at me.
"What does that mean?" Inuyasha asked.
"Besides that both minds now live in the same body, I have no idea." I said and sat up straight. "You know, as I fired that arrow I knew it was just too easy a kill. Next time Inuyasha you go after them and I'll deal with the extras. You have better luck with Naraku's incarnations than anyone."
Miroku and Kaede brought down the barrier that they had used to protect the villagers and the villagers wandered back to their homes. Kaede slowly made her way over to us with Miroku holding a supporting hand on her shoulder. "I know not what to make of that." She said gravely. "It may be the two have doubled in strength or have lost power now that they are one."
"I fear that they may have doubled in power." Miroku said, his eyes turning to the mountains. "And I think that they are waiting for us."
Inuyasha nodded and followed Miroku's gaze. "I can feel them. They are definitely waiting."
"Are they angry do you think?" I asked as Mamoru helped me get to my feet.
Kagome laughed as Miroku turned to look at me, jaw agape, eyes wide. "Of course they are!"
I dropped my calm pleasant mask and Miroku took a step back at the fury that blazed from my eyes. "Good than we are even." I shook my head and pulled my calmness back into me.
Mamoru held me tightly against him as he contemplated the mountains. He moved his gaze to Inuyasha. "Lord, they need to be killed before the pup is born. I do not want my pup in Naraku's control as Lady Sango's brother is." He said quietly.
Inuyasha looked at Mamoru. Inuyasha really had changed from how he was when Kagome had first met him. He was less irrational and more determined. "I won't let them touch any of our pups." He promised. "We will kill them before the child is born."
Mamoru bowed his head to Inuyasha and picked me up to carry me inside the hut.
Kagome looked at Kaede as they all followed us inside and asked. "Now that they know where home is, we need to set up a house to hold the villagers should they come back when we are not here. Is it possible to build a place a demon cannot enter or touch?"
Kaede nodded. "If a house is built with each piece of it strongly blessed before it is put together, no demon would be able to harm neither it nor the people it holds. I will need ye and Miroku to help me bless the place, I do not have enough power on my own. The problem would be that Inuyasha, Kirara, Shippo, Mamoru, and Nozomi wouldn't be able to enter it either."
"I could defend myself." Mamoru said shrugging slightly. Inuyasha nodded in agreement as well.
The sun set as we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of building such a house and Nozomi jerked upright. Only Kagome, Mamoru, and I turned to look at her so it seemed that the others knew what was going on. Her hair darkened to a dark brown and her eyes went milky white. "What…?" I asked.
"It is her human night." Inuyasha said. "It is the night after the new moon."
"That's a bit freaky." I said and held my arms out to Nozomi so she could feel her way to cuddle against my side. I wrapped her close and stroked her hair soothingly.
"It is also pretty bad because when she changes, she becomes blind again." Miroku said.
From behind me Mamoru reached out one of his hands to rub Nozomi's back gently. "We will always watch over you daughter." He said.
"Yes you should have told me when it was. I would have put off going back to my time to watch over you last month." I touched her cheek gently.
Nozomi sighed against my shoulder. "I know, I am sorry."
Sango looked out at the night sky and poked the fire to build it up. "We need to get to sleep."
Everyone moved to their space but tonight, since Nozomi was human, Mamoru and I settled her between us so we could watch over her.
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