Title: Snow of the Moon, Ice of the Sun

World: Inuyasha

Challenge: Dokuga Twisted Fairytale Challenge

Chapter Three

Rating: M

Kagome stood guard the entire night, thinking on how her friends had accepted her, even in her accursed state. They had all hugged her after Kikyo had finished the tale, unflinching at the coolness of her flesh.

Even though her tears had turned to small gems…

Yes…they were her Pack.

It wouldn't be until later that they realized that such kindness prevented her heart from freezing and kept the icy tendrils at by.

While she stood watch, no one dared to even come near the clearing.

Kikyo remained up with her; her clay body had no need of sleep. They walked around the perimeter of the camp, building up a protective barrier that kept them unseen from harmful eyes.

"You deserve a happily ever after."

Blinking, she looked up at her reincarnation in confusion when the soft whisper reached her ears. Kagome looked at Inuyasha's sleeping form and then back at her incarnation. Understanding dawned in the clay miko's deep, mahogany eyes. A cold hand reached up to a similarly cold cheek.

"Why?"

"Just because I may not get my happily ever after doesn't mean that no one else may." She touched the invisible Jewel that hung from a necklace given to her from Akatsuki. "I can use this…curse…to drag Naraku down if the worst comes to pass."

"No! Don't you dare think of it! We can find you one who will love you!"

Deep blue eyes stared back at her forlornly, an ancient sadness lurking in their depths. Ever since the last vestiges of Urasue's spell, Tsubaki's curse and Naraku's darkness were finally purified from her form, she could feel her reincarnation more deeply than before. They shared a connection that could not be explained in any form or manner.

It was then, at that moment, that Kikyo realized something. The revelation caused her to fall to her knees, in shock at the unfairness of it all, the sheer cruelty. The gods could not be that cruel, could they? Tears fell down her cheeks and belatedly, she realized that she could finally cry in her new body.

"Sh, it's alright. I realized it before this curse ever came upon me. This merely makes it so much easier."

Yes…the gods were that cruel.

They had made an odd group the next day as they traveled. A hanyou. A tajiya. A houshi. A fire neko. A dead miko. A kitsune cub and an adult kitsune.

"Kagome, what is that?"

It was when they were bathing and Kagome was undressing that Sango saw the spider tattoo, similar to Kagura's, on Kagome's body. Instead of being on her back, it was on her upper left thigh. It was no wonder that none of them had seen it before since Kagome's dress hid it.

"An unexpected consequence of Naraku's curse. It connects he and I. It allows me to feel his energy, know if he yet lives and if he is truly present before us." Nonchalantly, Kagome explained it as she slid into the warm waters, moaning happily as the warmth enveloped her. Even she was bothered by the coolness of her body.

"Does he know?" Sango set out the body lotions and soaps that Kagome brought back from the modern era in reach before she began to disrobe. When Kagome didn't answer her, she looked up worriedly only to see a sinking Kagome who had already jumped into the hot springs and a Kikyo who was grinning wryly at her.

"He does not know. Thankfully, we can use it to our advantage." The clay miko glanced at the tajiya shyly as she answered for the momentarily out of commission Kagome, wondering if she had accepted her into the group or if she still disliked her.

The spark of intuition that is present within all females went to work and the tajiya smiled and motioned towards a set of bath products that was the flavor of peaches and cream. "I think you'll like this one."

"Mphm!" Kagome straightened up in the water as she swallowed some of the almost scalding liquid by accident, having almost fallen asleep and sunk completely. Coughing, her attention was caught by the two laughing females. "You two have still not gotten in? Have can you deny yourself even a moment from this pleasurable experience!" Moving closer to the edge, she glared up at the two until they disrobed and slid into the pool of deliciously warm water. "Alright, time for pack closeness, starting with you, Kikyo!" Grabbing the set that Sango had gifted to Kikyo and had thereby been dubbed in Kagome's mind as 'Kikyo's Set', she began to groom and wash the clay miko's hair.

"Wha-what are you doing!" Kikyo had been surprised by Kagome's actions even though she knew that since she had been transformed into a youkai, she would probably follow her instincts and do such things.

"She's showing that she cares for us. Youkai groom each other in order to cultivate closeness and harmony. It's more common in pack youkai such as canines, and Kagome appears to be a Fox-Wolf, so she's going to act this way. She'll be able to leave her scent on us, showing that we are 'her' Pack. Even before all this curse business, she was the Alpha, not Inuyasha and we would groom each other. I guess she was a bit of youkai then as well." Sango laughed and began squirt some of the bath gel on a wash cloth while Kikyo began to relax in the hot spring, glowing happily under their administrations.

Sesshomaru sat under the tree he had chosen as his and watched his ward sleep by the fire's glow. That scent had been the Miko's. He could never mistake her scent…Never!...But how? She was ningen, not youkai. So how could that kitsune smell of her? A soft growl escaped him; he did not like this confusion. It seemed that he would have to 'accidently' cross paths with them sooner than he thought. He had to know why.

Why?

They traveled farther that day and actually recovered a Jewel shard (which Kikyo promptly purified and merged with the portion hanging from Kagome's neck) from a panther demon that Kagome had quite quickly defeated. Actually, annihilated would have been a better word. She stared at the demon's carcass (Kikyo had yet to purify it) with a look of incredulity. Either the panther had been incredibly weak or…she had gotten incredibly strong. Inuyasha was actually rolling on the grass, laughing his ass off at what had happened along with the houshi who was grinning widely while Sango just stared with her eyebrow twitching and her hand still on Hiraikotsu. One swipe of her paw and it had all been over.

"Mama's really strong!" The little kit that had been on Kikyo's shoulders during the…fight (if it could even be called that)…scampered in front of Kagome and stared up at her in awe.

Another tendril of darkness and ice had been kept at bay.

Kagome nuzzled Shippo with her nose and huffed, the warm air sticking his hair up and bringing forth a fake annoyed cry of "Mama!" beaming with happiness.

Shippo, though extremely intelligent for his young age, hadn't realized until after he had designated Kagome as 'Mama', that his new mother would die and leave him alone in a short time. Even so, he didn't withdraw his claim and decided to spend as much time as possible with her before her death, which he knew would come. It was one of the tragedies of choosing a human mother, a mortal one. So her transformation, though he it was because of the spider hanyou, delighted him. His mother would stay with him! She wouldn't die!

As it was growing late, night would probably fall in an hour or two, they settled in a clearing which was near a hot springs (Kagome thanked every god that she could remember) and began preparing the camp while Inuyasha hunted. Since Kikyo began travelling with Kagome and subsequently became part of her Pack, she realized that she had regained the ability to consume food and Inuyasha promptly introduced her to ramen. Duties were immediately divided. Kagome and Kikyo set up the barrier that reached all the way to the hot springs. Miroku and Shippo collected firewood and built up a suitable blaze. Sango set out the bedding. Inuyasha shortly returned with three young bucks and motioned Shippo over to work on skinning the deer and preparing it for cooking while Miroku watched the fire, every so often throwing a couple of branches on it. When Kagome and Kikyo returned from creating the barrier, a small tree was clamped between Kagome's jaws. She deposited it next to the fire and after making sharp work of it with her claws, created the components for making a perfect spit with enough firewood to last the night.

And Kirara? Well…Kirara supervised.

While the food cooked, the men went off to bath and returned just as an aura was prickling on the edges of Kagome's conscious. When she glanced at Kikyo, the other miko let her know that she had felt it as well and was privy to Kagome's apprehension.

Sesshomaru was approaching.