Chapter 31

Two days passed in the modern era. The group had done their best to enjoy their remaining time in the modern era because they knew it would be a while before they came back. They lived it up quite well for a couple days. However, the morning came that they had agreed to return to their time. Nami and Umi were sparring in the courtyard, while Akage, Sai, and Kaze looked on from their seats on a bench.

"So you two ready for your wedding?" Akage asked.

"As ready as we'll ever be." Kaze said, smiling.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sai asked jokingly.

"I'm nervous. I don't want your dad to murder me for taking his little girl away." Kaze told her. Sai bust out laughing. Akage couldn't help but smirk either.

"What? I think it's a legitimate concern." Kaze joked.

"I don't know. You might be right." She said with a devilish grin, "Now that you're a half-demon, he might be concerned that I'm not the dominant member of the relationship."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Kaze said. Sai shook her head. He turned to Akage.

"Tell me she's kidding." He said.

"Well Kaze, I don't know." Akage told him, "I don't know Sai's father all that well. What I did notice is that he seems very... Protective... Sai very well could be right." Kaze ran his hands through his hair.

"Damn." He cursed, "This is gonna be interesting."

"Yeah, my dad might even go full demon and eat you for being so gullible." Sai said, laughing at Kaze's expense. Kaze rolled his eyes and pushed Sai off of the bench. She didn't even seem to notice and started rolling on the ground in laughter. Kaze turned towards Akage and glared at him. Akage shrugged his shoulders.

"Not my fault." He said, smirking, "Just was pretty damn funny to watch you sweat."

"Yeah. Hilarious." Kaze said annoyed. Sai finally started to calm down and managed to get up.

"Come on Kaze. Lighten up." Sai insisted, wiping tears from her eyes, "It was funny."

"Alright fine. It was kinda funny." Kaze admitted, starting to chuckle.

At that moment, Mageru, Kiretsu, and Sota entered the courtyard. Nami and Umi stopped sparring and the others turned their heads to see what they had to say.

"Good to see that you are all having fun." Mageru noted, "I'm guessing that means you're all better."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Kaze said.

"Good." Kiretsu said, "Then I guess it's time." Everyone nodded and gathered to get ready to leave. They didn't have anything to take with them except for the few things that the demon brothers had brought along for their little test. Everything else was back at home. They assembled outside the well and said their goodbyes. Souta made Sai and Kaze promise to visit their uncle and keep him updated. They did and proceeded to jump through, one-by-one. Sai was ready to go back. She had a wedding to go to.

The group arrived on the other side with Sai coming through last. The sun was shining brightly on them as they were the only ones in the clearing. Sai took a deep breath of the air.

"It's good to be home." She said.

"Definitely." Kaze agreed. He sniffed the air, "Looks like your dad has caught our scent. He and your mom are moving this way fast."

"Figures." Sai said, laughing.

"Kaze I'm never gonna get used to you like this." Nami said.

"Yeah it's so weird." Umi agreed.

"Not much I can do about it." Kaze told them, "Plus, I think it's kinda fun." There was a rustling at the edge of the clearing and a blur of red. Inuyasha was now standing before them with Kagome getting off of his back. Sai ran to them and took them into a massive embrace.

"Mom! Dad!" She cried out happily.

"Sai!" Her mother cried back, "Oh I'm so glad you're home." Sai exited the embrace.

"It's good to have you back kid." Her dad said, scratching her ears, "Now where's the new addition to the family?" Inuyasha asked, looking past Sai. Kaze raised his clawed hand.

"Right here." He said, smiling. His fangs glinted in the sunshine.

"The ears look good on you." Inuyasha joked. Kagome walked up to him and examined him from head to toe.

"I really do like your eyes now. They look cool on you." She said. Kaze scratched his head, embarrassed.

"Uh... Thanks." He said, unsure of what to say.

"Mom." Sai whined, "Leave him alone."

"Well I have to check up on my son-in-law to-be, especially after this big of a change." Kagome insisted.

"Well then, let's do it at the village. I'm sure Miroku and Sango want to see their children too." Sai pointed out.

"She's probably right." Inuyasha agreed, "Come on Kagome. Let's head back." She nodded and got on his back. Nami got on Akage's and Umi got on Sai's and they followed Inuyasha back to the village.

The village looked exactly the way that they had left it. Exactly the same, except for the wedding decorations, which were everywhere. Those were new. They stopped running and let everyone off once they had entered into the village. Nami, Umi, and Kaze left immediately to talk to their parents, who had been waiting for them. Akage went with them.

"Damn. You guys really went all out." Sai said, looking at all of the stuff that had been set up.

"And it's not finished yet either. We've still got another day's work to do and then your wedding can happen." Kagome said, excitedly.

"The wedding is in two days?!" Sai asked incredulously.

"Yes, of course." Kagome said, as if it were obvious.

"That's really soon." Sai said.

"I know. We figured that you kids would be getting a little anxious, so we decided to move up the date." Kagome said cheerily.

"Thanks... I guess..." Sai said, unsure about whether she was happy about this.

"Don't worry about it." Inuyasha told her, "Come on. We've got lunch prepared for you and the others."

"Who's house are we having it at?" Sai asked, curious.

"Yours." Inuyasha said.

"Mine?!" Sai asked, surprised and confused at the same time.

"Well, yours and Kaze's." Kagome corrected, "Your dad figured that you would want your own house, so he and some of the other men in the village built one while you were away."

"That was fast." Sai said, amazed.

"Sesshomaru helped too." Inuyasha added, almost grudgingly.

"That he did." Kagome verified, laughing slightly, "He'll also be at the wedding with Rin." Sai nodded and smiled.

"Thank you guys. Thank you so much." She said hugging them.

"Oh no problem dear. Now come on. Let's go check out your house and have lunch together." With that they set off for the house. Kaze and the others soon followed. Kaze ran to catch up with Sai and pulled her aside.

"Can you believe this?" Kaze asked.

"Not really." Sai admitted, "I never expected the wedding to be this soon or them to build us a house."

"I know. It's crazy." Kaze said, shaking his head, "But I can't say I'm complaining."

"Yeah, a free house is a nice wedding gift." Sai joked. She sniffed the air.

"Lunch smells good." Sai commented. Kaze chuckled.

"Yes it does. It's still weird to me that I can smell it." He told her.

"You'll get used to it. Now let's get to the house. We're having guests tonight." Sai joked. They rejoined the group and continued on to the house.

Their new home was quaint, but Sai and Kaze both immediately fell in love with it. The house was small like Inuyasha and Kagome's, but it was laid out like Miroku and Sango's. There were three rooms. It had a living room, a kitchen, and a bedroom and each was fully furnished.

"So how do you like it?" Kagome asked.

"I love it." Sai said, emotion strong in her voice, "Thank you so much. This is perfect." Inuyasha smiled, happy that his daughter was happy.

"I'm glad you like it honey." Kagome said, hugging her emotional daughter, "Now come on. The food is ready." She was right. All of it had already been laid out on the table. Everyone took a seat at the table and began to eat. During the entire meal, everyone constantly asked questions about what had happened on the other side. They intentionally left out most of the key events, but otherwise were completely honest. In other words, they carefully avoided every single question. Their parents didn't seem to pick up on it though.

Lunch was finished quickly and everyone dispersed. Sai and Kaze were left to examine their new home, while everyone else was dragged off to prepare for the wedding. After everyone had left and they were alone, Kaze started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Sai asked curiously.

"It's just that we only just got back from this crazy ordeal and now they're making all of them work to get ready for our wedding." Kaze told her, "It's just kinda funny to me." Sai started to laugh too.

"Yeah. It's funny, but it's kinda harsh too." She said.

"Well, I guess since they don't know about what we actually went through, we can't really judge them. They just think we were away for a few days getting taught a thing or two." Kaze explained.

"Yeah. I guess you're right." Sai admitted, "Now come on. Let's check out the rest of the house."

"I think we should check out the bedroom first." Kaze said, winking. This made Sai blush.

"Come now Kaze. We're waiting. Just hold out a couple more days." Sai told him.

"Fine, but it's going to be difficult." Kaze said.

"I know, I know, but it's going to be better if we wait. Trust me. Once we become mates and I bear your mark, nothing will compare." Sai explained.

"Wait. My mark? What does that mean?" Kaze asked, confused.

"Well, you're half dog demon now, so you've gotta do things our way. When a male finds a female for a mate, they get married. Then, at the end of the wedding ceremony, he bites her on the outside of her right shoulder. This bite morphs into a mating mark, a family crest of sorts. The same mark will appear immediately on the male as well. It completes the bond between the two and makes it unbreakable. My dad calls it 'marking his territory,' which I guess is kinda true. Once it's done, I can't go to anyone else, nor would I ever want to. It's a pretty permanent thing since we don't die of old age and we mate for life." Sai explained.

"That's amazing." Kaze said, astonished, "I had no idea this whole half-demon thing was going to have this many perks."

"Yeah it's kinda nice." Sai admitted, "If you're around open minded people."

"Yeah I guess that's true." Kaze said, realizing what he'd just said, "I'm sorry Sai. I wasn't thinking. I know life is hard for you around people that hate demons."

"Don't worry about it Kaze." Sai reassured him, "You've never had to experience it. Unfortunately, you probably will soon. It's not the best feeling in the world, but you get over it." Kaze simply nodded, mentally kicking himself for being so inconsiderate.

"Come on." Sai said after a moment, "Totosai's scent just showed up. We can go talk to him about getting you a blade."

"You sure?" Kaze asked.

"Yeah, of course. You need a blade." Sai insisted, "We're going to be facing some crazy stuff soon and you can't just rely on your claws."

"I guess you're right." Kaze said.

"It's gonna be really difficult for you to learn you know." Sai told him.

"Why is that?" Kaze asked.

"Your father never had demon blood. You can't rely on his strength to start your training. The blade will have to be forged from your own fang to begin with and the strength will all have to be your own." Sai explained.

"Sai, I don't care about that." Kaze said, "I'll have you by my side. You're my strength now, Sai. As long as you're with me, I'll be fine." Sai blushed.

"Same goes for you too babe." Sai joked, "Now come on. Let's go."

They walked out of the house into the sunshine. Nami and Umi, who were working on putting up decorations saw them and waved happily. Sai and Kaze waved back. Sai turned to Kaze.

"Hey I'll race you to Totosai." Sai challenged, "I bet I can beat you."

"You're on!" Kaze said. Sai immediately took off with Kaze following behind a fraction of a second later. She reached the edge of the village and them jumped high into the air. It almost looked like she was flying. Kaze followed suit since Totosai was still in the air. Both of them began jumping from tree to tree. They were neck and neck. Suddenly Sai's foot hit a branch wrong and she was sent tumbling down to the forest floor. She hit the ground hard and let out a yelp of pain.

"Sai!" Kaze cried as he jumped after her. He found her lying motionless on the ground and ran and knelt by her side. "Sai! Are you okay?" She opened her eyes slowly.

"Gotcha." She said weakly.

"Wha-" Kaze began to say before Sai's leg came around and took his legs out from under him. Within a second, Sai was off the ground and back to running, laughing as she did.

"Hey no fair!" Kaze yelled after her as he got up and began to chase. Sai responded by leaping into the air and landing softly onto Totosai's flying bull.

"I win!" She called at him. He lept and joined her on the bull.

"Yeah, but cheated." Kaze complained.

"I'll make it up to you." She said kissing him on the lips, "Trust me." Sai winked and turned to Totosai who was still shocked in silence.

"Hey Totosai." She said cheerily.

"Um... Hello..." He said, trying to figure out what to say.

"How are you?" Kaze asked.

"I'm... Alright. I guess." Totosai told him, "You look different Kaze." This made both him and Sai laugh.

"True enough." Kaze admitted, "I'm a half-demon now."

"I can see that. Inuyasha informed me about the transformation. It's just a little strange to see it for myself." Totosai explained. Kaze nodded in understanding.

"So, you here for the wedding?" Sai asked.

"Yes, actually." Totosai told them, "I'm also here because Inuyasha insisted that Kaze would need a demon blade. Something about protecting you, or something like that."

"Sounds like my dad." Sai joked, "That's actually why we sought you out too."

"You mean you didn't just come to see me to say hi? I'm offended." He joked.

"Sorry Totosai." Kaze said, laughing along.

"Can't say I expected anything different. Come. We'll discuss it over dinner." Totosai said. They agreed and flew down to the village to spend the rest of the day doing one thing or the other in preparation for the wedding.