The Storm
By: AniuLonewolf
Chapter 17 – Kagome's New Power
The next morning Kagome woke up to the sun shining through her windows in her room. She opened her eyes to see Inuyasha's sleeping face right beside her. Kagome let out a giggle as she heard the sleeping half demon mumble something in his sleep. Reaching over, the raven haired girl gave her half demon a kiss on the cheek as was about to pull away when Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her in his sleep and pulled her close to his chest.
Kagome let out a small giggle as the half demon pulled her close, his head resting on her lap and she adjusted her sitting position so that her back was leaning against the bedrest. Looking down at the sleeping Inuyasha, she reached her hand up and started to gently message the white triangular ears on top of his head.
The sleeping dog demon mumbled something that wasn't understandable and Kagome saw his golden eyes open as he woke up.
"Good morning." Kagome smiled and moved her hand from his ears to run through his silver hair.
Inuyasha gave her a lazy half smile. "'Morning." He said sleepily as he yawned and rested his head back down on Kagome's lap.
"You must not be used to this;" Kagome laughed as she went to rubbing his ear again. "sleeping in every morning, not having to watch your back every moment during the night."
"It's nice, that's for sure." Inuyasha yawned again, leaning into Kagome's touch. But when he leaned against her hand she stopped messaging his ear and he gave a slight whine in disappointment. "Why did you stop? That felt good."
"Kagome! Inuyasha! Time for breakfast!" Sota banged on the closed door.
"We're coming." Kagome called out to her younger brother and then placed a hand on Inuyasha's head. "Don't worry; I'll give you another ear rub later." She smiled as the half demon got up from laying down. The two got up from the bed and went downstairs to join everyone else at the table to eat.
When the two made it down to the kitchen, everyone else was already sitting at the table. Sango, Miroku and Shippo were sitting at the table starring down at the breakfast food from the future while they were dressed in their Feudal Era clothes. Inuyasha and Kagome on the other hand were still in their pajamas; Kagome in a pink and green pants and tank top set and Inuyasha dressed in his fire rat pants.
As the two sat down at the table, Mrs. Higurashi handed them both a both of cereal and cup of milk. As everyone started to eat their breakfast and started conversations with one another at the table, Sota came through the doorway with a backpack on.
"Bye everyone." Kagome's little brother called out to the group as he walked over to the entrance room to put on his shoes and walked out the door with a final goodbye.
Shippo looked up at Kagome with a spoonful of cereal in his hand. "Where is Sota going?" The kitsune asked.
"Sota has to go to school – like what I did. He doesn't have as many tests as I did because he's in a younger class." Kagome explained but the topic of school brought the conversation from the night before. 'Guess I should be getting back to school myself.' She thought to herself.
"Why does he have to go to school but you're not going?" The little fox demon asked as if he could read her thoughts.
Kagome looked over at Inuyasha and Shippo and then turned to the rest of her family. "Actually Shippo brings up a good point, about me going back to school that is." She cleared her throat and put down her fork and turned to her mother. "I've decided that I will continue my last school year. I'll try to catch up with all I've missed and try to graduate with my class but I feel that it would be good to finish the school year."
"I think that is a wonderful idea dear." Mrs. Higurashi smiled at her spot at the table and with that, Kagome announced that she would return to school in two days' time.
o-o-o-o
After breakfast was done and the dishes were taken care of, everyone went off to do their own thing around the Higurashi household and shrine. Sango and Miroku went outside to enjoy the sunshine with Shippo and Kilala hung around to keep Mrs. Higurashi some company in the kitchen. Kagome left Inuyasha downstairs as she went upstairs to get changed.
But while she was in her room running a brush through her long black hair, she suddenly felt a presence around her. Putting her brush down, she looked around her room – it was empty; her freshly made bed with Tetsusaiga resting on the comforter. She opened her window and looked out into the courtyard – no there was nothing there out of the ordinary.
But the feeling wouldn't go away. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the feeling. It felt like a demon was somewhere close but it was faint and fuzzy like there was a barrier blocking it.
Inuyasha was sitting on the couch when he heard Kagome walk down the stairs. The half demon was about to turn to the priestess and say something about how Miroku almost hit on some high school girls that visited the shrine when he saw that there was a troubled expression on Kagome's face. "What's wrong?" He asked as he got up from the couch and walked over to Kagome.
"I sense something." Kagome said, her eyes not meeting the half demon in front of her as she tried to hone in on where the feeling was coming from. "I sense a demon but – it's different somehow."
"A demon?" Inuyasha repeated in question as he placed a hand on Kagome's shoulder. "Are you sure? I don't smell anything around here."
"No… I don't know." Kagome's eyebrows furrowed in frustration as she continued to try and concentrate on the feeling. "Come outside with me." She said and grabbed her mate's hand and took him outside before he could say anything else.
When they got outside they ran into Sango and Miroku who were talking happily with each other. But then when they saw the anxious looks on Kagome and Inuyasha's face, their conversation died off and asked what was wrong. After hearing that Kagome sensed a demon somewhere, they monk and demon slayer went to looking around the shrine.
Kagome felt the presence grow stronger when they had left the house and she went off in a hurried walk without anyone following her. She closed her eyes and concentrated, letting her feet take her where she could feel the mysterious shiver.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself at the doors of the well house. She felt it again but this time it was a heavy feeling that made her stomach flip-flop. They hadn't been over to the other time since the final battle with Naraku and she was worried about the other demons that would be coming out of hiding due to Naraku's death.
"Inuyasha!" She called out to her mate while she stood in front of the closed doors of the well house.
The half demon heard Kagome's call out to him from where he stood at the house and jumped into the air, landing beside his mate in a second. "What? What?" He questioned, pulling Kagome close to him. "Where is it?"
"It's not here." She whispered, placing a hand on his chest. "But I can sense it stronger over here. I think it might be coming from the well."
Inuyasha sniffed the air as he let Kagome go. "Kagome, I don't smell anything. Are you sure?"
Kagome was getting frustrated with this mystery and with a huff, she grabbed Inuyasha's hand and pulled him into the well house. The half demon didn't know what was going on but before he could say anything, they were engulfed in the blue light of time travel and found himself at the bottom of the well but in the Feudal Era.
"Don't you think we should have told Sango and Miroku where we were going?" Inuyasha questioned gruffly as he helped Kagome out of the well. "And did it ever cross your mind that I would need Tetsusaiga if we were going into a fight? Not to mention I'm half naked."
Kagome ignored Inuyasha's questions as she brought up questions of her own. "The demon I sense must have been on this side of the well? That's impossible." She mumbled to herself as they made their way to the village.
Inuyasha let out an irritated growl as he noticed Kagome wasn't paying attention to him. "Hello, Kagome. I'm talking to y-." But he was cut off by Kagome's hand clapping over his mouth.
"Shh. Do you hear that?" Kagome asked as she looked towards the tree line where the forest ended and the village started. "I can sense the demon's aura very clearly now. But I can hear people. They're in the forest." Kagome said, still looking up.
Inuyasha stopped and concentrated on everything around him. A growl was heard from his closed lips as he took Kagome's hand off of his mouth and sniffed the air. "I smell blood. The village must be under attack."
Nothing else was said as Kagome climbed onto the half demon's back and Inuyasha ran off towards the village. When they arrived at the village, the sight in front of them explained everything that Inuyasha smelt and Kagome heard.
Inuyasha stopped to assess the situation as he let Kagome slide off his back and back to her feet. There was a centipede demon attacking the village, roaring loudly and smashing the huts into splinters.
With Kagome on her own feet, Inuyasha crouched into an attack position and reached to his left side but then realized he didn't have his sword. "Damn it." He growled as he cracked his knuckles.
"The jewel!" The centipede roared as it lifted his head up, its millions of legs reaching and twitching about. "I want the jewel!"
"Does this remind you of something?" Kagome raised her eyebrow as she watched the insect demon scuttle around the village. This type of demon was the very first she had run into on her very first day in the Feudal Era. Mistress Centipede had attacked her, forcing her to wake Inuyasha up from his tree-bound spell to save the village.
"Yup." Inuyasha smirked remembering the first night he met Kagome. "And it wasn't that hard to get rid of that bug." He grunted as he kicked off into the air in a jump, his claws flexed and ready for attack. "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" He yelled as he dragged his claws down into the flesh of the demon.
The centipede's body was torn to shreds at Inuyasha's claws and the freshly dead body fell to the ground with a thundering boom.
Inuyasha landed on his feet and flicked his hand to get most of the blood off of his claws. He looked around at the damage the centipede had inflicted on the village as the frightened people poked their heads out from their hiding places to see if it was safe.
"Well that wasn't too hard for you to get rid of." Kagome said as she walked up to the half demon and offered him a handkerchief to clean his hands. "Man, that demon sure did some damage." She stated as she too looked around at the wounded huts.
"Ah thank you Inuyasha for getting rid of the demon." A voice said from behind them and the two turned around to see the elderly priestess Keade walking up to them. She was holding her one arm close to her where blood had stained her white priestess outfit.
"Keade, are you alright?" Kagome asked as she walked up to the old priestess to see if she could do anything to help the wound.
"Hai child I will be fine." The old priestess said, showing that she only had a small cut on her arm and a little one on her forehead. "It was a good thing ye came when ye did. We were having a bit of difficulty with this demon."
"That's just it," Inuyasha spoke up as he crossed his arms over his bare chest, looking over at the two priestesses. "Kagome said that she sensed something while in her time."
"That's right. I sensed a demon's aura but it wasn't in my house - or outside. I could feel it coming from the well so we jumped in. Then I could feel the demon's aura coming from the village." Kagome explained as she looked between the half demon and Keade. "But how can I feel a demon's presence from my time?"
"Hai child. Ye priestess powers are growing stronger." Keade explained as the three of them walked to her hut to dress her wounds. "Ye are part of both worlds now so ye can now sense what is going on in the other world even if you're not there." The old priestess explained.
Inuyasha and Kagome looked over at one another with surprised expressions on both of their faces. "So if Kagome is in her time, she can still sense what is going on in this time?" The half asked, trying to make sense of what kind of new powers Kagome had now.
"Hai."
"Cool." Kagome said simply, her new powers not sinking in right away. "So now I can be in my time and still know if the village is safe or not. And if I'm here, I can tell if my family is safe." The raven haired girl smiled at her mate before sitting down beside Keade to help dress her wounds.
o-o-o-o
A couple minutes after helping bandage Keade's wounds Kagome and Inuyasha said goodbye to the old priestess and made their way back to Kagome's era.
Just before they were going to jump into the Bone Eater's Well, Kagome stopped and turned to the half demon. "Jump in first. I want to try something."
Inuyasha gave Kagome a weird look but didn't argue and jumped into the well, engulfed by the pale blue light as he went to the other time.
Kagome closed her eyes and concentrated on her thoughts and with little difficulty she suddenly felt Inuyasha's presence. But just like before there was a sort of fogginess about the feeling. Judging from her mini experiment, she figured that the fogginess was due to the powers of the Bone Eater's Well and Inuyasha being on the other side of the well.
With her short experiment a success, Kagome opened her eyes and jumped through the well and landed on the ground in her time. Looking around, she saw that Inuyasha was standing beside her, waiting for her to return back to her own time.
"Well?" Inuyasha raised an eye brow at his mate.
"I felt your presence on the other side of the well." Kagome explained as she got onto his back and the half demon jumped out of the well.
"Kagome! Inuyasha! Where did you two go?" Sango called to the couple as the demon slayer and the monk ran up to the well house. "You disappeared without telling us – did you think the demon?"
"Yeah we found it." Inuyasha answered as Kagome got off of his back and the four walked back to Kagome's house. While they walked to the house, Kagome explained to Sango and Miroku how she had developed new powers to sense presences while being in the different eras.
When they got in the house Mrs. Higurashi greeted them with some lunch and the two couples sat down in the living room and Kagome decided to put in a movie for the group to watch.
Kagome went over to the cabinet and picked out a few movies she thought her friends would like. Putting them on the table for the group to pick from, she went in to the kitchen to make some popcorn and when she went back in the other room, the put the chosen movie in and sat down beside Inuyasha.
"Oh, just so you all know – the monsters on the TV are not real so I don't want anyone going to attack the screen alright." She said, mostly looking over at the half demon beside her.
Inuyasha looked down at the raven haired girl beside him and huffed but didn't say anything. The movie played and everyone watched quietly. Of all the movies the group could choose from they picked a horror and even though it was board daylight outside, when a scary part came up on the movie Kagome jumped a bit and Inuyasha couldn't help but let out a growl at the monsters on the screen. But after a while the half demon realized the monsters were only in the box and quieted down.
Throughout the movie, Kagome kept fidgeting where she was sitting on the couch. It wasn't the movie that was bothering her; she had seen this one particular film several times. She had a kink in her shoulder and the way she was trying to sit was making it worse. No matter which way she tried to sit, it was still uncomfortable but she suddenly felt Inuyasha place his hand on her shoulder, pulling her down towards him. She smiled at the half demon and finally found a comfortable spot when she laid her head on his chest, curling up beside him on the couch.
When they were almost done the movie, the phone suddenly rang out from the hallway. No one was suspecting the phone to ring and they were so involved in the TV that when it rang, the group jumped in surprise. Kagome jumped up from the couch and ran over to the hallway to answer who was on the other line.
"He-Hello? This is Higurashi residence." She answered.
"Hey Kagome, it's me Sota." Her little brother's voice was heard on the other side of the line.
"Sota? Is something wrong?" Kagome asked as she looked back in the living room and saw Sango and Miroku jump at what was going on in the movie and saw that Inuyasha was chuckling at their reaction. "Where are you calling from?"
"I'm calling from the payphone by the school, wondering if you could ask Mom if I could go over to Satoru's after school." Her little brother answered.
"Hang on, I'll go ask her." Kagome covered the end of the phone and started to walk down the hallway when something tugged on the phone in her hand. Looking back, she growled quietly to herself. "Darn cord." She poked her head around the corner into the living room. "Inuyasha, could you come here for a moment?"
The half demon looked up from the television and got up from the couch, walking over to the girl in the hallway. "What's up?" He asked with a questioning look on his face.
"Would you be able to ask my Mom something? Ask her is Sota can go to Satoru's house after school." Kagome explained, still holding the phone in her hand.
Inuyasha nodded and didn't waste any time in heading outside into the shrine courtyard to look for Kagome's Mom. It wasn't hard to find her, his demon senses were keen and he found her in the storage shed cleaning with Kagome's grandfather.
"Um, Mrs. Higurashi? Kagome asked me to ask you something." The half demon said as he helped Kagome's mother with a heavy box before continuing what he had to say. "Sota is on that umm thing you talk on?"
"The phone?" Mrs. Higurashi questioned and got a nod from the half demon.
"He wants to go over to Satoru's house after school."
"Oh yes I'm sure that is fine. Thank you for coming out to ask me." Mrs. Higurashi smiled but as the half demon was about to take his leave, she stopped him for a moment. "Oh and Inuyasha? You don't have to call me Mrs. Higurashi, call me Mom if you want or Nodoka. We're family now." She smiled.
Inuyasha stuttered in his step for a moment as Mrs. Higurashi statement of being family. He hadn't called someone 'Mom' in so many years, not since his mother had passed away and the idea made the half demon become quiet in thought as he smiled at the woman before him and turn back to the house.
Kagome saw Inuyasha come back into the house and watched him come up to her, saying that her mother gave her brother permission to go to his friends. Kagome passed on the message and hung up the phone with her brother before turning to the half demon beside her.
"Are you ok?" The raven haired priestess questioned, placing a hand on Inuyasha's upper arm. "You seem distant."
"It's nothing, I'm alright." Inuyasha answered, offering a smile down at his mate. "Your mother just brought up an interesting thought." He saw Kagome tilt her head to the side in question. "She said to call her Mom because we're family now."
Kagome was quiet for a moment as she looked up at Inuyasha. "You don't have to call her Mom if you don't want to. I understand that you were very close with your mother and if it makes you uncomfortable..."
"No, no it doesn't make me feel like that." Inuyasha cut her off, smiling down at her again. "Your mother has been so understanding about everything that has happened in the last four years. I miss my mother but I finally feel like I have a family."
Kagome's heart skipped a beat when she heard Inuyasha's words and it was all she could do to stop the tears from welling up in her eyes. Over the last four years, there were only a handful of times where the two of them could talk about how they felt about one another and it warmed Kagome's heart to hear that Inuyasha felt like part of her family. "You are part of my family now." She wrapped her arms around his waist in a hug, resting her head on his chest. "I love you."
Inuyasha was quiet for a moment, absorbing the feel of Kagome in his arms. "I love you too, Kagome." His mind was still on what had just happened just days ago, Naraku was finally gone and they didn't have to worry about anything anymore. They had their whole lives to look ahead to. The three words that Kagome whispered echoed in his ears as he buried his nose in Kagome's hair, loving her scent. "We are a family."
Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi
The Storm by AniuLonewolf