CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Kagome

I gave a long sigh as I listened to the constant bickering between Inuyasha an Koga behind me. Since Koga wasn't ready to go back to his tribe, he decided to tag along with us for a while. I couldn't be anymore happier than to be spending more time with him since he was never really around, but him being here reminded me yet again how much he and Inuyasha hated each other.

The whole time we detoured on our way to Sakura and Ayame's castle, nobody else really talked much. There would be little comments here and there but nothing too serious. At one point my mind drifted back to the fight from yesterday. To say the least, it was pretty insane. There was so much going on, I could hardly keep up with making sure everyone was okay. They were all doing fine with holding their own, though. I was even surprised that Shippo was actually fighting this time, and helping to protect me at that. He would usually run way and hide but I was proud at him for standing his ground. Given, he is still a kid, he's shown me and everyone else how much he's grown over time.

I felt bad for Sakura and Ayame and how Naraku had put them up against their parents like that. They couldn't just turn away from the fight and Kagura did say she wasn't controlling them so there was no way she could have stopped what was about to happen. Thankfully we were able to get them some immediate help. They both seem to be doing so much better today and I was glad.

All I suffered from was the blast of Kagura's Dance of Blades technique. I was grateful that Shippo thought fast and transformed into a big pink balloon at the last minute to keep me from crashing into the cave walls. He wasn't hurt and I was left exhausted with one of the worst headaches in my life. Speaking of, I felt one coming on right about now.

"Yeah right, mutt! I'd run out of fingers counting how many times you put Kagome in danger!"

"If it happened it was never intentional. I'd never let Kagome get hurt. I'd run out of fingers counting the times you weren't there to even protect her!"

"She knows I have responsibility and a duty to lead my tribe. I see her when I can."

"Oh yeah, well you should maybe start coming around more often to check on her since you love her so much."

"You just focus on doing a better job at keeping her safe when i'm not around! Some best friend you are."

"Will you two shut up, already?" I yelled, fed up with their arguing. I turned around on my bike and glared at the both of them, shutting them up instantly.

"Somebody's got it bad. An over-protective best friend who puts her in constant danger and an over-protective love interest who hates her best friend. Way to go, Kagome." Sango winked at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Says the one whose got someone wrapped around their finger."

Sango huffed and lowered her eyes at me. "If that was even close to being the case, that person wouldn't be such a womanizer or pervert."

"My dear, Sango, please forgive me." Miroku slyly placed his hand to her backside and gently rubbed it. "I may flirt with other women but at the end of the day, it is you that I really want. After we defeat Naraku you will be all mine, I promise."

There was a loud smack and Inuyasha stepped over Miroku as he fell to the ground. Sango kept her stride and walked with her head high. "Yeah, right." She said, loud enough for him to hear.

Shippo turned around in my bike basket and looked through the spaces in my arms to peek at Miroku on the ground dealing with his love strike. "Looks like you really gave it to him this time, Sango."

I shook my head and laughed, pressing the breaks on my bike as Sakura and Ayame stopped in front of a castle surrounded by beautiful Cherry Blossom trees. Petals flew everywhere as a soft breeze came and went.

"So, this is it?" I asked no one in particular. the surrounding trees gave me a sense of tranquility. The stone of the outside of the castle was a mixture of dark and light grey as a result of a past fire. I didn't know the details of Shinobu and Akira's deaths but I do remember fire being involved from talking to Sakura and Ayame this morning before we left the previous village.

The sisters pushed open the doors and I hopped off my bike, sitting it aside on the wall near the entrance on the inside. They closed them back once we were all inside and silently scanned the area.

"Yeah, this is it." Ayame answered my question.

If you had no idea of this places' history, you couldn't even tell that there had been any trouble. Colorful flowers lined the stone walls and the two watch towers on each side. There was a water well right beside the watch tower to the left and a large space in front of a shrine area.

"Wait, this is a dojo?" I gave the "shrine" a second look and went inside one of the doors to see many weapons hanging on the walls with names written on scrolls that were also hanging up.

"Yeah. Our family would train the children of our family in classes and teach them basic fighting techniques for hand-to-hand combat. They showcased their skills in this space as they we paired up to spar with one another." Ayame explained, gesturing to the space in front of the dojo. "They even trained orphan children and let them stay here until they were old enough to go out on their own."

"That was very nice of them." I commented. I stepped back outside and admired the beautiful glass wind chimes. "So, someone has been here. The upkeep is amazing."

"Yeah. But I can't pick up on anyone's scent, so I wonder who it could be." Ayame leaned on one of the beams and tilted her head.

"Ayame!" We turned to our right to see Sakura coming around the corner. "You should come see this."

Without a word, Ayame followed Sakura to the far end of the dojo and turned the corner to the left. At the end of that hall was another opening to the right. When we reached it, there was a large garden and what looked like half of it was filled with graves.

Ayame

I slowly stepped off the dojo porch and walked through what used to be a full garden beside my family's castle. There had to be at least twenty graves before me, all of which had my family members and other familiar names carved in stones. The family that I last remember seeing before Kaede took Sakura and I away so our lives would be spared.

I prayed over each grave i passed and only hoped that each of their souls were at peace. I stepped between them and made my way through a small field of flowers to get to the middle where Sakura sat in the grass and stared at the last two graves I had yet to pray over.

"I'm...glad." I heard her say, her voice soft but not cracking. "Those really were puppets that Naraku had us fighting."

I knelt down in the warm grass beside her in a bowing position and felt her lean forward before I prayed for our parents' souls to be at peace. I sat up and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as the wind blew cherry blossom petals around us.

"I'm glad, too." I smiled. My wrist pulsed and I looked o see my okurimono showing up on my skin. I transformed from my human form to demon form, feeling more comfortable on my own land. "You feel that?" I looked down and Sakura ran her fingers over my father's marking.

"Yeah."

"Hey..." Sango slowly approached us. "You two okay?"

Sakura and I stood, still staring at our parents' resting places. "We're fine." I answered. "Naraku didn't use their real bodies to fight us after all."

Sango smiled. "That's a relief." Kilala mewed and jumped off of Sango's shoulder into my arms.

"Come on, why don't we show you guys the rest of the place and I make us some dinner? We can stay here tonight." I happily offered, all of a sudden in a much better mood than since the past couple of days.

"That's fine with me. I'm pretty hungry." Inuyasha came up and stood beside Sango, rubbing his stomach.

"Well, let's go!" Sakura grabbed his hands and skipped towards the main entrance of the castle.

After dinner was finished, everyone got to roaming around the castle and we all ended up at the dojo. I plopped down on the large cushion facing the wall that was naked of weapons. I sat back and watched Miroku scan them all and picked up one of the swords to examine it.

"I miss fighting with all of this stuff." Sakura picked up some kunai and forced them at the naked wall I was facing, sending them flying right through it. "Oops. I guess I forgot about how light they were to me."

"Or how strong you are, rather." I said. "You know you're gonna fix that, right?"

"Yes, I know, mom." She placed her hads on her hips.

"Hey, can I see those?" Sango asked her. Sakura showed her how to place them between her fingers. "Why, these are pretty cool."

"They aren't light at all." Kagome struggled to hold them as easily as Sango did.

"Because you aren't used to holding weapons." Inuyasha pointed out, sitting beside me.

"So, you throw them like this?" Sango tried her hand at handling the kunai and was surprisingly good at it. "I love them already!"

"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, now. There's no need in perfecting their use if you don't have any of your own to use." Miroku said nervously.

"Actually, we have tons of these. You're welcome to them if you'd like, Sango." Sakura offered like the asshole she is.

I laughed. Miroku was nervous because if he misbehaved again Sango would have a new toy to torture him with to teach him a lesson. Sango beamed and grabbed two cloth rolls which equaled twenty kunai in her possession.

"Miroku, if you're so worried about Sango having those then you really are hopeless." I shook my head.

"Me? Worried? No, I'm not worried at all." He tried to play it off, watching Sango examine the sharp weapons like she was already ready to put them to use.

If you say so." I sang, knowing he was lying.

"I'm gonna turn in." Inuyasha grabbed his Tetsusaiga up from between us and was preparing to stand up.

"Tired already?" I asked. The sun hadn't even set all the way.

"Eh, something like that." He shrugged.

I shrugged as well. "You remember how to get to your room? You don't need an escort, do you?" I made him smirk.

"I'm a dog demon, remember? Dogs have great memory. I'll get there, no problem."

"Of course I know they have great memory. I'm half of what you are. I just wanted to make sure."

Koga leaned in the doorway where Inuyasha was leaving out at. "Maybe you should do something about your memory so you can remember to protect Kagome better when I'm not around."

"Koga!" Kagome stepped up to him, coming up to his shoulders. "Leave Inuyasha alone."

"I'm just lettin' him know."

"I've heard it all the way from the village to here! Zip it." Koga crossed his arms and groaned and Kagome turned to her best friend. "You're gonna be okay?'

"Just peachy." Inuyasha threw his arms behind his head and walked towards the main castle.

"The place looks really good. I wish I could pick up the scent of whose been here." Sakura said as we sat in the library. Everyone had gone to their rooms and turned in while we stayed up and talked for the past three hours. We were both reflecting on our home and just saying how relieved we were to see that someone buried all of our family that had been killed.

"Me too. But, for now, I'm just glad that it was done." I stood up from my chair and stretched. "I'm tired. I'm gonna go to bed now." I rubbed my dark green eyes.

"You won't think it's weird to be sleeping in your old room again?" She asked.

I shook my head. "Not really, but I do remember my bed being comfortable as hell so I'm about to go away to dreamland on that king-sized mattress." I said, making her laugh.

"I'm going to go meditate in the garden if you need me." She put a few books back in their place on one of the many bookshelves in the room. "Goodnight."

"Night." As soon as I got to my room, I changed into something comfortable to sleep in and jumped onto my soft bed, sinking into the large pillows my mother brought back to me from present Japan. Surprisingly, they still smelled like her. Not a lot, but they held just the slightest scent of her. It was enough for me to go to sleep with a smile on my face. I was happy to be home and in my bed for a change...and even more happy to know that my family was officially resting in peace.