Declaration of War

Miroku

"It's been a while since we last saw you...how have things been fairing with your..search?"

Inuyasha's ears dropped and his whole face fell drastically. I knew what was coming, I saw the signs before he did, and I damn near predicted the future, but I'm not saying I told you so. He was too far gone for that.

"You were right. She's not the Kagome I- we knew anymore. Her being a hanyou is not making the situation any better either"

This I did not see coming. "A hanyou? But she's a miko how in the hell is that possible?!"

He shook his head. "That's one thing I don't know nor could I find out, frankly it baffles me too. I had no idea Naraku had the power to do that."

This newfound information got me thinking, I vowed not to get into situations like these again after me and Sango's daughter was killed by Naraku but something just kept grabbing my attention.

"Was there anything different about Kagome?"

He gave me a 'duh, obviously' look and I knew I had to rephrase my question.

"I meant was there anything that set her apart from normally born hanyous?" I asked.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before coming up with an answer. "It was her eyes"

"Her eyes?" I asked.

He nodded. I thought most hanyous had extremely blue eyes or gold eyes like Inuyasha's. "What about them?"

He shook his head again, the ends of his silver hair seemed to stand on end; a bad memory I suppose. "It was strange, yet terrifying. I'd never felt that way towards an opponent, that said opponent being Kagome made everything a lot more...unfamiliar."

I wasn't getting it, for the first time Inuyasha's logical seeming words didn't really function in my head. "What do you mean?"

He looked at me with the upmost seriousness. "Her eyes were pure crimson, something no hanyou I know has. She has ears and a tail like a hanyou ,yet something dark and ancient resonates with her scent. The type of youkai blood she has within...isn't normal. More like something from hell"

This alarmed me. Something from hell? It was almost ironic, I grew up as a child believing that youkai came from hell but some hanyous and demons I've met are decent and good. How could youkai like that fall through the cracks?

I couldn't wrap my head around this, not only was Kagome a hanyou but Inuyasha sounded intimidated, even scared of her, which was a first in my book. What was the relationship between Kagome and Naraku? How deep is it that Naraku would even give Kagome so much power in the first place? What is he planning?

"Quickly Inuyasha, you must tell me everything about Kagome. Anything you saw that strikes her as different you must let me know. I have a bad feeling about her."

Naraku

The sun beamed its existence into my chambers, I grimaced; how unsightly. My bare chest lay exposed to the sunlight while only Kagome's long dark hair laid sprawled about her like a blanket.

I pushed the most of it away from her face, revealing the dried up blood caked around her lips. Brushing it off with the tip of my thumb, she stirred angrily in her sleep.

Her crimson eyes fluttered awake and peered at me curiously. "You woke me out of my sleep, why?"

My eyes narrowed a bit, and I found myself hitting her hard across the face. Since when is she allowed to question me so freely? "May I remind you of your place, but if you must know, I'm wondering where you were last night"

She gave me a stark and blank expression, but no words came from her mouth. I roughly grabbed her by the chin and her eyes narrowed slightly at me. We both knew this no longer hurt her in the slightest, but just the action alone was something that bothered her.

"You answer when I ask you a question" I said pushing her face away. She rubbed her chin and sat up.

"I got hungry, all I did was go out to hunt" she said.

I sighed frustratedly, I thought I told her not to do that without me knowing. The youkai blood within her turned out to be unstable and may one day reject her body if she's not careful.

"I thought I made myself clear-

"You did make yourself clear Naraku. Believe me you did, I just don't know what happened. My hunger is what led me to flee this place, not my mind"

I stared at her, wondering wether to believe her or not. Reminding myself that she disobeyed her orders once again, I raised my hand again and struck her against the wall. This I knew hurt sharply. Yelping and stumbling to the floor, her hair fanned out all around her and covered her naked body.

"Forgive me Naraku-sama!" she cried. "It's just...as soon as I became hungry I blanked out for the rest of that night, all I remember is waking up here"

My eyebrows furrowed together, what caused her to lose memory of her actions that night? More importantly, what exactly did she do that night?

Inuyasha

"Hell wolf youkai?" I asked. It didn't ring a bell, nor have I heard of it before but the very name itself didn't bring good feelings with it.

Miroku nodded while looking down at the old scroll in his lap. "It doesn't say much ,but at least part of the description here does resemble what you've told me about Kagome" he cleared his throat. "the information in this scroll is really limited and only offers minor personality traits and appearances, a couple of rituals and sacrifices they would up hold...that's about it"

I sat down on the wooden floor beneath me, it creaked under my weight. It didn't sound like a lot of info in the first place, but we'll need all the information we can get right now.

"Read all of it, it's the best we've got for now" I told him.

He nodded and proceeded. "The hell wolf youkai are ancient ruthless beings that existed two hundred and fifty years ago. The race itself ravaged the region with it's terror for a full fifty years until another race rose to oppose them. By this time the fox youkai were powerful enough to drive the hell wolf youkai away from the eastern part of the region and restricted them to only the western and northern area of the region. When this happened, for a short time, both races settled a truce as long as the other race doesn't intrude on the other race's area of reign."

Miroku stopped reading and annoyance hit me. Why the hell did he stop reading?! The story was getting good! His expression is what stopped me from saying anything at all. His face was paleing at a rapid pace and the color in his eyes and skin dulled so suddenly; a corpse sitting in front of me.

"What is it Miroku?!" I asked.

His hands shook as he read aloud. "When a hell wolf youkai child comes into age, they must eat and devour a single ningen child's heart to preserve their power and life force. Then that youkai must kill those associated with that child for strength and furtility..."

He looked at me with such fear. I had always thought, for a ningen, Miroku was a strong guy but even he was afraid of something. A realization hit me then, Kagome's tainted blood and appearance was similar to this hell wolf youkai race. Then that would mean...no..no that's not possible. Kagome loved kids, I always thought the little brats were annoying but Kagome loved kids...and kids loved her.

Water came to my eyes blurring my vision for moment, and I quickly wiped them away. There wasn't any time for tears now, there will be more of that...after Kagome and Naraku dies.

XxXxXxXxXx

After he was finished reading the rest of the scroll, he blinked in confusion.

"Perhaps we should consult with someone that is from a direct line from both the hell wolf youkai and the fox youkai" Miroku suggested.

I shook my head. "Where are we gonna find someone that's a descendant from those beasts?"

A light came into Miroku's eyes then. "We already know people from those lines. One of those people is Kouga, he's bound to know something! He's not directly from that lineage ,but his wolf blood must have a bit of hell wolf in it. Shippou should know something too, his father had to have told him something about his ancestors"

I rolled my eyes. I wasn't ready to see nor hear Kouga's meaningless complaints about Kagome this and Kagome that...he doesn't even know what all we had to go through.

"If we're going to see Kouga then we have to inform him about Kagome and Naraku, and also about Himiko" I muttered.

The light disappeared from Miroku's eyes again. "Why should we?"

"Because he also has feelings for Kagome like I once did, he's not going to want to believe that Kagome has betrayed us all"

I felt my ears lower to my head, I still wake up some nights imagining that Kagome will be there wondering why I was up so early. Her black hair would be tousled and messy ,but she won't care because her focus is if I had a bad dream or not.

Reality is reality, no matter how much I miss the old Kagome and how much I still love that Kagome , the Kagome now has already devoured the girl I still have feelings for.

XxXxXxXx

"Where's Sango? I haven't seen her since I been here, is something wrong?"

Miroku stood up and poured himself something to drink. "Well not serverely. She came down with an illness a couple days ago ,but Kaede said its nothing to worry about"

He seemed pretty shooken up by that fact, but if Kaede said theres nothing to worry about then there probably isn't. Well, we had business to attend to anyway.

"Are you fine with leaving Sango here by herself?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Yeah, with all the talk about Himiko in Kaede's village...everyone wants to offer their condolences and protection. A fortress of youkai couldn't get through here even if they tried"

He sounded pretty sure, but I had my doubts. Fifty years ago when Kikyo was still alive and I was after the jewel, I caused havoc all over their village without using much effort. Maybe they finally came up with something to hold off youkai on their own now.

"As long as your sure Miroku, we better get going. Now." I muttered.

XxXxXxXxXx

We arrived at Kouga's den when the sun was just about to set, illuminating the sky with oranges, pinks and streaks of red. All of Kouga's subordinates gave me and Miroku their greetings ,but we both ignored all of them. We were here strictly on business.

Kouga, who'd strangely grown taller over these past few years, stood next to Ayame-who looked up at him lovingly. Kouga sniffed the air and then smiled.

"What brings you here mutt?" He asked.

He grinned at me ,but it slowly disappeared when he realized that my face was going to remain the way it was (which was neutral, stark, and a bit of desperate).

His face fell and he could already tell something was wrong. He looked around in confusion and thought, only spotting Miroku and I.

"Your missing a few people. Where's Kagome, Sango, and the fox kit?" He countered off on his fingers as he talked.

I sighed and Mirkou shot me an impatient look. "Look, we're running out of time here Kouga so we can't walk down memory lane today"

Kouga's eyes narrowed for a moment before he finally let up, and led us into his enormous den. The inside of the cave seemed to be larger than the last time I'd seen it, looking around now, it seemed like they dug a little bit of it out. It was still the same watery cave it's always been, mainly because of the large waterfall occupying itself in the middle of it.

"As you can see, we made a few renovations on the place. Ayame's family moved in a while ago and they breed rather quickly."

Ayame howled and slapped his arm playfully. He smiled and chuckled a little, they seemed happy together. We made a couple of turns throughout this labyrinth of a cave where we finally got to Kouga's personal den, Ayame excused herself and left soon after.

When we all listened out to see we were fully alone, I cleared my throat to ready myself. Kouga might take this hard.

"We've suffered...these past months, this past year. Mirkou and Sango also shared their own terrible loss, they got it worse than I did actually...well we've both had our share of losses." I muttered.

Kouga's eyes softened as he looked down at us. I already knew his question...

"And where does our Kagome fall into place in this situation?" He asked.

I clenched my teeth and fists, shut my eyes, I couldn't bring myself to say it. Miroku smashed his fist into the ground and his eyes burned with such hatred that it almost scared me.

"Kagome...that bitch!...she left us for Naraku and his pawns! and took the life of my child while she was at it"

A couple of tears betrayed Miroku's face and dropped on the ground. Kouga's whole demeanor and facial expression showed his torment, his eyes showed it, the defiance and the fluttering thought of us lying to his face.

He shook his head then, he chose not to believe it. "No, you can't be-

I stood up and approached him. "No Kouga, you can't take her side like you always do. We sure as hell want to think that Naraku is forcing her to do this, but...he's not. She ran to him..I think she..."

I felt my ears lower to my head, I could no longer look Kouga in the eyes. Actually, I think he was crying too. Just the thought of losing such a sweet girl to the deep depths of filth...probably made him disgusted with it all.

"Is there a way...can't we do something?" he asked gently.

I gave up...he still wasn't really sure. I could hear it in his wavering voice. "We've tried, we gave her many opportunities...too many if you ask me. There's only one solution"

Kouga's eyes widened in panic. "No, you can't." He protested.

"Her deepest connection was with Inuyasha, we both know that Kouga. They already fought once, and she went after his throat! You may want to save her, you may want to be able to hold her like you use to, but she doesn't! She'd kill you if it really came down to it. Ayame, her family, your pack, this whole den would be left in disarray after she's done with it." Miroku spat out.

He really seemed to hate her now. Even if she begged for forgiveness (which was highly unlikely) he wouldn't hesitate any slower to take her life.

Kouga's eyes narrowed and he looked at both of us. "When did this happen? Because it seems like to me this has been going on for awhile now"

Miroku looked over at me for this part, and my ears lowered to my head again. "Near the middle of last year" I muttered.

Kouga scoffed. "And you decide to come to me with this now. Just after I've already made a life for myself and my pack."

"Look we're sorry on the delay, but we had to come to you for information. Otherwise, we would've left you be. Who wants to find out that a good, gentle hearted friend of yours betrayed you?...we would have spared your feelings for Kagome and let you still believe she's still the person that we wished she still was." Miroku explained.

Kouga shook his head again, he still didn't want to believe. "I'll see this for myself"

A nerve made its appearance near my temple, his stubbornness is annoying. I do admire his trust and loyalty in Kagome (it was a hell of a lot better than mine the first time I went out to rescue Kagome).

A horrified expression came across Miroku's face then. "Yes, I find you annoying Kouga but we...you can't risk your life to fulfill your selfish ambition."

Kouga's face remained stark and rigid...firm. His mind was set and no matter what we said to him, he would do what he wanted.

Kagome

My mind was fuzzy...distant. I couldn't focus worth shit during my training with Hakudoshi and he managed to almost penetrate me through the stomach with his halberd. The training with Naraku went even worse...it wasn't our usual sparring matches as usual but more of a focus on my control over my demonic powers.

That was weird and terrifying all at the same time. I thought hard about my decision to let Naraku help me with my problems or not. Whatever, I'll go for it I guess. He was busy in his room grooming himself, grunting frustratedly at his uncooperative hair while at the same time trying to keep his hakuma from draping off his frame.

I smiled at him while watching him from afar, his struggle against his own hair made the sight itself one to behold. Stiffling a giggle, I walked to his side and grabbed the comb from his hands. He sighed and relaxed into my chest that was pressed against his back.

Naraku was a good head taller than me, so getting to the start of his wavy, black mane was a bit difficult. He chuckled at my struggle and straightened his back a little. I pouted like a child. 'No fair Naraku-sama!' I thought.

"Ehhh...please sit down Naraku, I can't reach..." I said standing on the tip of my toes.

He chuckled again and nodded. Tying his hakuma affectively, he crossed his legs and sat on the wooden floor. Holding the comb nervously in my hand, I grabbed a piece of his luscious waterfall of hair and gently pulled the comb though it. He leaned back more into my hands and I blushed, this was the first time we actually spent time together. 'Other than for sex' I snorted out loud.

"Something amusing you?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No, sire. It's just...this is...very pleasant"

He was silent for a while. "Mm...I suppose it is"

The rest of that day went like that in silence. He sat still that whole time and let me comb his hair for hours, not once did he protest to it nor tell me that he had somewhere to be or something to do.

Sunset was apparent and coloring the skies with orange, red, and pink. The clouds floated away in little whispy feathers. Naraku allowed me some time to myself in the wilderness to hunt for a bit, and not to be long. My demonic presense was right now, uncontrollable and leaking out about me in dark tendrils. Thus, making it hard to find prey satisfying my taste and appetite.

Sighing, I let my ears flutter up from beneath my hair. My long tails remained hidden in my disguise while my eyes remained their regular tainted red. A disturbance in the air made my ears flick one way and another way. Someone was trespassing through my already marked territory. I growled in rage, what part of this area is mine didn't they understand!

A scent wafted through my nose and I softened alittle. The blood of my distant relatives was easy to pick out now that I had half of the same blood as them. I inhaled and let out a soft, but firm howl into the sky. My mixed blood made the howl sound distorted and hostile ,but they should be able to recognize it as a warning not to venture towards me.

Frowning, the smell of wolf came closer and closer. Maybe they needed more then a warning.

"It's you"

I turned around to see a familiar face. How unexpecting.

"Kouga" I purred. "Your face is rather refreshing to look at" I ran a hand through my hair enticingly.

His eyes traveled up and down my body, a light blush creeping up on his face. "Ka-Kagome?" His eyes met mine.

"The one and only, Kouga. What brings you to this part of the land?" I asked.

He approached me and I let my ears wiggle free. He noticed this and stepped back in surprise.

"So you really are a-

I nodded. "Yes, a half demon. Could you not smell the blood of your ancestors running through my body?"

He shook his head in non-belief. "This can't-

I appeared in front of his face in less than a flash. "Would you like me to show you proof, mangy wolf boy?"

He gulped deeply and I slowly let my talons extend to a lethal extent. My teeth also lengthened in excitement at another prey, my tails swished about my legs in anticipation while my eyes reached a deeper shade of red. Looking up into his eyes, I put my hands on his chest and put a leg between his. He grunted in disapproval and I smirked.

"Whats wrong Kouga? You've always wanted this didn't you? Snatching me away from that mangy mutt Inuyasha and ravaging my body to whatever extent you wanted or wished. Well, what's stopping you now?" I cooed.

That was it, the one little shove that completely pushed him over the cliff and into the river of my influence. His eyes blurred into a light shade of blue and I knew I had him. Opening my arms, I embraced him tightly before opening my mouth and clamping down on his jugular. He irked and I only bit down harder, his struggle was futile.

Growling, I felt myself being yanked off of Kouga and towards the ground. Twisting my body, I land on all fours. Standing up, I immediately hissed at the intruders.

He smirked. "So I interrupted your meal, sorry to disappoint you"

He held Tetsuiga towards me. I looked over at Kouga, who fell unconious, and was currently being protected by Miroku. Pure fire blazed in his eyes as he looked at me, a look so deep of hatred. I smiled and waved my fingers at him before turning my attention back to Inuyasha.

I laughed openly. "You really want to do this, Inuyasha?"

He nodded in confirmation, the hurt clearly seen behind his eyes. "I've wanted to avoid this for so long already" he said quietly.

I ran another hand through my hair again, giving Inuyasha a dazzling smile that showed off my dangerous teeth. "And I've waited for much too long Inuyasha"

Grabbing the hilt of Higanbana I flipped it around to face the sharper edge towards Inuyasha's heart. 'You will never get away from me again' I thought with venom.

A/N: phew! This little bit has been sitting on my ipad since forever! So sorry for the delay guys and I know I've been neglecting this for awhile now ^^" the next chapter should be up soon so please wait for the next update. Remember to R&R guys. Review review review!