Chapter 15- His Blood, My Blood

"Kenshin! Kenshin where are you?" Rin called, wandering through the woods. He said he'd seen a rabbit, and he'd chased after it, but that had been quite some time ago. The hem of her kimono was heavy with various victuals of the forest, everything from tasty kinds of roots to fruits and nuts that just happened to grow wild in that area. Shippou, too, was loaded down, and they had even fashioned some baskets and slung them over a transformed Kirara's back which were now filled, as well. The threesome wandered farther and farther away from camp trying to find the golden-haired haninu, but it seemed to no avail, despite Shippou using his keen nose to track him. The scent was too old, and many things had cast it away, hiding it from his senses. She called again, but there remained nothing but a silent forest about them, almost suffocating in its humid embrace.

"C'mon, Rin, let's just go back to camp. He probably made a wide circle and is waiting on us with the brothers and sister Grimm," the fox kit told her sourly, borrowing an expression he'd heard Kagome use. What she had said it meant escaped him at the moment, but he didn't care. Kagome would be angry with him if any of their comrades came to harm, and he'd just allowed that curious puppy to disappear from underneath his nose again.

Kenshin lounged next to a stream, chewing on a sprig of grass languidly, hands behind his head in complete relaxation. It had taken him quite a while to be sure that he'd completely lost them; he liked them as much as he would his brother and sister, but everyone needs some time to themselves on occasion, right? He sighed, content to have the birds' song to lull him into a light slumber.

The next thing he knew, there was a huge crash, and his eyes ripped open, darting about him in a million directions. Someone was there, and it wasn't Kagome, or anyone else from the group, for that matter, but it was obviously a youkai by the way he sputtered and cursed lightly under his breath. The sky was no longer light with the afternoon sun, but on the dark half of twilight, no more than two or three bright stars being allowed to shine as of yet. He stood, tugging on the hem of his yukata just a little. He ventured a little closer to the river, and was surprised when a hulking black shape heaved out of the water and onto the bank next to him! Golden hair fell about his face in soaked, slightly-curling rivulets as he gasped for air, attempting to overcome the shock of the cold water.

"H-hey! Hey, mister, are you ok?" he asked, a little fear for the man creeping into his voice as he inched closer once again. The stranger nodded, still breathless, before finally looking up into the child's wide, uncertain orbs. The boy nearly fainted at the sight.

Ruby red eyes.

"Kenshin! Kenshin, where are you?" Kagome called desperately, her feet taking her through the forest quickly in search of her son. Inuyasha had taken to the trees behind her, and searched in the opposite direction. Almost the entire group was looking for him. Her white haori hung limp against her back, heavy with sweat. "Kenshin! Please, answer me!"

Her anguish-filled cry rang through the forest, and every time she called, Inuyasha wanted to pull her into his lap while she cried, for he had long ago smelled the tang of new salt mixing with her scent of sakura blossoms and ginger. But they couldn't stop. Not now. She needed him, true, but she wanted Kenshin. They had to keep looking. A heavy wind brought the scent of rain to his nose; a thunderstorm was coming their way. A big one. They had to find Kenshin before the rain fell. There was at least some semblance of chance then, but once the water washed away his scent…

He immediately pushed the thoughts from his mind. He couldn't think like that, shouldn't think like that. Wait… wet… scared… but it was still…

"Kagome! I've got his scent!" her mate yelled over the howling of the wind as he picked her up and made his way back into the trees. She gripped his fire-rat haori tightly as he bounded ever faster through the trees. Oh, if only she were a half-demon! She would've beaten him to her son had she know the direction and had the strength to go. But she was failing fast. The rain was now beginning to pour, and she was feeling weaker every minute beneath its torrents. Her last sight was a flash of deep gold, and all sensation was no more.

The sun came not with the morning, nor did the rain stop. For three days, the travelers stayed within a cave, never once questioning the man whom the golden-child protected. They were so much alike… and the youkai could clearly understand by his scent that he was the boy's father. But they also understood that he was not of the living. He reeked of death and graveyard soil, yet he seemed as alive as the next youkai. Kenshin seemed not to notice his strange scent at all. Inuyasha was almost jealous of him; Kenshin had found his real, birth father, but would that mean he wouldn't consider Inuyasha as his father any longer? He desperately hoped that didn't happen.

He was even more desperate for Kagome to wake up.

For three days they had stayed, waiting for the rain to stop, waiting for the sun to shine again, true, but… more than that, they were waiting for Kagome to wake up. Her fever was dangerously high, and her face was strangely flushed. The stench of sickness hung about her heavily, and despite the fever itself, her hands and feet were like ice. Their blaze, hearty though it was, seemed not enough to warm her cold body. Inuyasha laid next to her, arms around her waist as he rested his lips on her shoulder, unsure what to do for her further. Sango helped her drink a liquid every few hours that helped her fever some, but then the coldness would overtake her body again. What could they do? It was too dangerous to move her through the rain, and too far to return to Kaede's anyway.

"Kenshin, you understand that I am your father, don't you?" the man asked quietly, so quietly that only the child could hear. He nodded.

"I may be of your blood, and yours of mine, but…" his eyes trailed across the room to the silvery-haired man, who's hair seemed as golden as his own in the fire-light, "but he is still my father, and she is still my mother. I will never forget okaasan, or you, now that I know you, but they will always be my family. Your blood, my blood… it may be the same, but my blood and his blood… we are meant to be together through bonds not created with physical evidence, but evidence of destiny."

AN: Now was that fast or what? XD As of yesterday, I finished my SAT and am now a himajin~! So wondermus~. XP At any rate, I'm working towards keeping my promise to post all of these stories I'm reposting before the end of November.

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