Chapter 11

"Iz." He said walking into the other room making her stop to look at him. "What's wrong?"

"What are you talking about?" She asked as he narrowed his eyes slightly looking down at her.

"Iz, come on. You know you can't hide things. I've known you my entire life, you're my mate, and you really think you can act like nothing is going on?" He asked making her look away. "Izzy."

"Taro…. I don't want you to get angry or try to do anything." Taro looked at her confused as she looked at him with her golden eyes. "I can't tell you. You will wind up in a fight and hurt and all for no reason."

"What if I promise I won't do anything? What's going on? Obviously it's something that's really bothering you." Izayoi looked up at him as he looked at her half begging to know what was going on.

"Taro…." She sighed turning away. "I need you to promise me you won't do anything. Swear as my mate that you will not do anything." Taro looked at her for a moment.

"What-?"

"No, just swear on your pups' lives." Taro looked at her knowing that this must be really important for her to make him swear on the twins lives.

"I swear as your mate." She looked at him for a minute before sighing. "What is making you so upset?"

"Your brother." Taro raised an eyebrow as she turned and looked at him. "Saburo." Taro's eyes narrowed making Izayoi shake her head. "It was just…. This last time when your dad and Jiro were getting you to control yourself and the other demons showed up he came over to me. He was confused. He didn't know what was going on."

"How could he not know what was going on? He knew perfectly well what he was doing the past several years when he hurt you."

"I know but when I looked at him he looked like he did when we were kids. Before we even got together. He was nothing like he had been the past few years or even minutes before he came to me."

"What are you saying?"

"I think that there is more to him doing everything. I will never forget what he did to me, what he did to us, I am just saying that I think he was being controlled or something and doesn't know what he is doing. It's like the stories we always heard about Kohaku." Taro stood looking at his mate as anger flared in him even thinking about his brother.

"Then what do you think we should do?" He asked stiffly making her move her golden eyes to look at him from the corner of her eyes.

"I think we need to find him. If he was able to really break a control and doesn't know what's going, he won't know where to go or what to do. He's out there scared and confused. I think we should find him and find out what really happened." Taro looked down at her anger clearly in his eyes.

"No, let him be where ever he is. I don't want him around us, especially you and the kids."

"Taro…"

"No, you are not to go after him." He said turning to walk away only to have Izayoi grab his arm turning him around with fire in her eyes as others started walking into the room wondering what was going on. The second he saw her fierce eyes he knew he was in trouble.

"I am going to help him, so you can sit here like a pompous jack ass and act like you're the most important demon in the world and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"You're not going to help that poor excuse for a being." He told her making he set her jaw and ball her hands into tight fists. Inuyasha and the others walked into the room as she narrowed her eyes. Inuyasha looked at Kagome knowing what was going to happen if things went too far.

"You have the nerve to tell me I can't go and do something I want to do, you really think I will listen to you? You stay here like a jack ass, mangy, scrawny, poor excuse for a wolf demon all you want, but don't dare tell me I'm not allowed to do something!" She yelled before storming out of the house, slamming the door behind her leaving Taro standing in his place watching her leave.

"What's going on?" Toshiro asked looking at his brother in law who turned leaving through the back door. Toshiro looked at his parents confused as Kagome and Rin looked at each other. "Mom?"

"Let them both cool down." Kagome said.

"What started it?" Jiro asked as Kagome sighed shaking her head.

"''Gome?" Inuyasha asked softly making her looked up and shake her head slightly.

"I'll tell you later, I promise. I'll talk to your daughter." She said making him smirk before looking at Toshiro, being the only one she would be able to count on not loosing himself when he found out what was going on. "Shiro, go talk with Taro."

"What the hell was all of that about?" Koga asked looking at Inuyasha who shrugged.

"Your son still hasn't learned not to tell her what to do. Kagome and me couldn't even do that since she was kid." Inuyasha chuckled as he walked away to look out the window as Kagome stood looking up at the sacred tree.

"She's still like you in every way." Miroku said with a smirk as he looked out at Kagome as Izayoi dropped from the tree and hugged her mother. "Sometimes that can be a bad thing." Inuyasha gave a small nod as the two pulled back to look at each other, tears clearly streaming down Izayoi's cheeks. Inuyasha watched feeling the need to be there with his daughter to hold her as she cried and to tell her everything would be alright, but he knew that him going out there would make things worse so he stood watching as the others in the room dispersed.

"Izzy." Kagome said looking up into the branches of the tree. She smiled as Izayoi dropped down in front of her only to see the tears on her cheeks. "Come here." Kagome said softly, wrapping her daughter in her arms and holding her as she cried.

"Mom, he made me tell him and then…"

"Shh. It's alright." Kagome pulled back to look at her daughter. "Sit down." She said before they moved to the small bench. "You know he's just trying to keep you safe. He knows what Saburo's done to you and he knows what happens to you every time he's around. He wants to keep you away from anything that could hurt you."

"I know but he won't even think about what this means. He won't listen to anything I say, he thinks he can boss me around and tell me what to do when I'm involved." Kagome gave a small smiled as she wrapped her arm around Izayoi who laid her head on her mother's shoulder.

"You are like your father in every way. Always tough and trying to protect everyone you love, but still gentle and soft on the inside. You know he always tried to tell me what to do?" Izayoi shook her head. "He still does it. He thinks I am a powerless human girl who can barely walk or do anything." Izayoi looked at her mother.

"Really? How come I've never seen that?"

"Because we have had our deals." Kagome grinned. "Taro is acting just like your father. He's afraid that he'll lose you. You two grew up as rivals, and then turned into mates. He loves you more than anything in the world and doesn't want to lose you because of something he could have stopped."

"But he can't control me."

"No he can't. We are strong women; I haven't met a demon yet who was able to tell me, Rin or Mizuki what to do. We know what we are doing; we are smart enough to think things through without having one of those foolish males looking over our shoulder."

"Taro acts like I forgot everything Saburo has done to me, but… I haven't." She said as a few tears ran down her cheeks. "I'll never forget anything he did, but if he was being controlled I think I can deal with what he's done. If he really did break free and doesn't know what's going on, he could be in trouble. He's afraid and confused somewhere in the feudal era. He needs help."

"I don't think anyone could forget what he's done, but I think that he should be given a chance to explain what has happened."

"Then what do we do? Taro's not going to sit back and let me go find him and Dad's defiantly the same." Kagome smiled before they heard a voice behind them.

"I'll go with you." They turned and saw Taro and Toshiro standing there. The two women looked at each other then at the two young men.

"The three of us will go." Toshiro said giving his sister a smile and a quick wink. "Mom, we should go and try to get some things together and a way to go without letting dad and the other know." Kagome nodded as the two walked away leaving Taro and Izayoi alone. Izayoi turned in her seat to face back the way she had been. Taro took a deep breath knowing that things were going to be hard until he fixed things with her. He sat down facing the opposite way and watched her as she looked straight ahead acting like he wasn't there.

"Iz…" He said as she looked away. "Come on, don't be like that, Izzy." He said as she crossed her arms. "Please mate." He said softly as he laid his head in the crook of her neck with a soft whimper of submission. She looked at him from the corner of her eyes as he slowly looked back at her.

"You can't just come over here acting cute after what you tried to do." She said as he sighed and nodded.

"I know I'm sorry. I just don't want to have you in any situation that could hurt you." He said making her look at him from the side. "You're my best friend in the world; you're my mate and the mother of my pups. I can't even imagine what I would do if something happened to you. I love you." He said as he slowly placed his clawed hand under her chin making her face him.

"You can't tell me what to do all the time." She said as her eyes softened.

"I know. I just want to keep you safe, and the only way I can guarantee that is to keep you out of things. I always worried about you and it only gets worse as things go deeper. I can't lose you." He said leaning in and giving her a soft kiss. The two pulled apart and looked at each other.

"I love you too." She said softly looking into his eyes. "I'm sorry about what I said. I will never forget what he put me through, what he did to us and everyone else but like my mom said. He deserves at least a chance to explain what happened, especially if he really was being controlled."

"If you think this is what we should do then I'll follow and help you do it." He said as he kissed her again. "Just promise me that you'll be really careful and let me help when you need it. You can be so stubborn sometimes." He smiled making her grin.

"As long as we work together and not alpha and beta I want any help my mate will lend." She smiled. "I love you, you mangy wolf."

"I love you too, half breed." He smirked as they kissed again. "Let's go get our things together and help your brother and mom find a way to keep this from everyone else."

Taro and Izayoi kissed their twins on the head as they slept before creeping from the room to see Toshiro doing the same leaving Akia and Hikaru in their dreams. The three walked to the living room where they found Ryuu, and Hanna standing.

"Trying to leave without me?" Hanna asked making the three jump. Even with their demon blood they still couldn't tell they were there after the house was filled with all of them for the last month.

"Hanna?" Izayoi said looking at her cousin.

"Didn't we make a deal that if one goes on an adventure the other would go too?"

"That was when I was six."

"Still stands." Hanna smirked crossing her arms and Izayoi rolled her eyes.

"Hanna…"

"We are going to get my brother." Taro said making Hanna and Ryuu look at them. "You really want to get involved in this?"

"Hanna…" Ryuu said making her look at him and give a small nod.

"I can't let my best friend go into a war without me." She smiled and saw Ryuu smirk and give a nod before she turned and looked at the others. "So let's go."

"You both okay with this?" Toshiro asked.

"I'll stay and watch Tatsu and help keep the others away from figuring out where you went. Just be careful." He said with a small smile to Hanna who nodded. The two kissed before the little group left for the well.