Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and plot ideas I come up with. Thanks for reading and have a great day everyone.

Tests To Pass

"Hey, Dad. What's the scariest thing you've ever seen?" Kyou wanted to know, dragging his feet more then a little. He was tired and hungry and he knew they weren't stopping any time soon. His relatives were such machines sometimes. Even the completely human ones. He'd imagine they wouldn't stop until one of the kids complained and since both of them were being carried... Well he wasn't going to get to sit down any time soon.

"Your mother before an exam." Was Inu yasha reply before cursing when his mate smacked him upside the head. "Damn it, woman."

"Watch your language or you're biting the dust, pal." Kagome warned as she glared at him. "And I do mean hard."

"What's the scariest thing you've ever seen, Sora?" Rin wanted to know from Sango's arms where she was resting comfortably with her head on the slayer's shoulders. She didn't want Kagome and Inu yasha to fight so she figured changing the subject would be a good idea.

"The scariest thing?" Sora repeated, her expression thoughtful as she turned the question around in her mind. "I guess that would have to be my mother's face when she faced off against Lord Terrain in his courtyard." Sora admitted honestly, not wanting to lie to her sister.

"What the hell were you doing facing off against Terrain?" Sesshoumaru demanded to know as he glared at Sango. "Are you out of your mind? He would crush you like a bug. Flick you off like a piece of lint."

"First of all I haven't done it yet and second of all he couldn't be all that since I lived." Sango shot back, the two not even noticing the looks on everyone elses faces. Apparently they weren't used to the idea of Sesshoumaru and Sango being a couple, much less that the two had accepted it. "And if my face was the scariest thing our daughter has ever seen then I had to be pretty damn pissed at the time. You've never seen me fight when I'm pissed off and I guarentee you I'm far from a mere bug no matter how strong the demon."

"She did win, Uncle Sesshoumaru. I never actually saw the corpse since I wasn't born yet but Shippou said that after, when Dad and you saw what she and mom had done to the guy..well apparently you both said that your women were the meanest, most vindictive creatures the gods had ever created." Kyou chimed in with a smirk.

"Wow. What did Sango and I do to this guy?" Kagome wanted to know, not sure how to take what her mate and his brother had apparently said about her. "And for that matter..why?"

"Well Lady Sango broke about every bone in his body between the shoulders and his hips...and you poured flesh eating poison down his throat." Andrea said with a casual shrug like that was no big a deal. "And that creature's death and the way he died was deserving of his crime."

"You said yesterday that we held possession of Terrain's lands in your time. This is why?" Sesshoumaru wanted to know. When he'd tried to get more information the day before his daughter had been ellusive enough to catch his attention.

"Yes." Sora said with a nod. "That day most everyone even remotely connected to him died."

"As they should have. Poor Aiden can't even walk around in the sun without a shirt on." Kyou muttered under his breath, talking about those couple days having always put him into a poor mood.

"Something happened to my son?" Miroku demanded to know having caught Kyou's muttering.

"Ronin and Kiyoshi's wounds healed almost completely due to their demon blood. Aiden didn't have that advantage." Andrea explained before Sora could change the topic. "The flesh eating poison that Terrain was made to consume had been used by his men hours before and applied to their backs curtesy of whips."

"Those son of bitches!" Miroku snarled.

"Someone...applied whips..to the backs of two of my sons?" Sesshoumaru said slowly, his eyes going glacial as they arrowed into his daughter's, commanding that the response come from her. He knew well what the lash of a whip felt like, just as he knew what it was to be beaten within an inch of your life so he could well imagine the pain they'd experienced. "How old were they?"

"Yes. But mother decapitated them." Sora said with a sinking feeling. Lord Terrain was going to die a lot sooner now. "And they were both around ten."

"Sesshoumaru." Sango said slowly, drawing out his name as her eyes flashed with heat and barely concealed rage. "After we kill Ferio...we are going to this son of a bitch's place and we are killing everyone there in the most torturous and painful ways you can possibly devise."

"Agreed."

Meanwhile

Having been walking around in a greyish fog for a while the group came to a stop when they were faced with two large stones, standing upright and looked to be about two stories high. The reason they stopped though was the voice that spoke to them in a soft and feminine voice.

"You are approaching the Gateway to the Entrance of Chance. If you are faint of heart or seek what is within for selfish reasons..turn back now while your lives are still your own."

"We have no intention of turning around." Sesshoumaru called out, unable to sense where the voice was coming from.

"Then before you enter you may chose to bring with you three that are not here. They may each help you with a task. You must give me the order of their arrivals will be chosen by us. After their task they will be returned to where ever they were taken from. What are the names?"

Everyone hudling together the names were tossed around before Sesshoumaru called out the answers. "We ask that the three be my eldest son Kohaku, my brother Inu yasha and my daughter Sora." Keelie or Rin would have been a better choice then Sora in all honesty but they needed to know what the situation was like in the past.

"Fine. For your first task then. Inu yasha." The voice announced and in a blinding light Inu yasha appeared, only looking surprised for a moment before walking over to join the group. "You may now enter the gate. Your first task will prove your worth as a person. You will not fight, instead those who have gone before you will fight and attack you..depending on their view of you. Your fates will depend upon both the allies and the enemies you have made in your time."

"Running into problems already?" Inu yasha wanted to know with a faint smirk before going serious. "This first task thing...it doesn't sound like a winnable one. We all have killed a lot more demons then we've helped. The humans won't be much use."

"Regardless we must proceed." Sesshoumaru said with a faint scold. This was not a task he'd expected. Nor would it be one that would necessarily go their way.

"We'll have the slayers of mother's village...that's something at least. Plus Shippou's parents and Kaede." Dare pointed out, ever the droll optimist. "Maybe Kikyo will even lend a hand."

"If she does..no ones mentioning that to Kagome." Inu yasha commanded, not even wanting to think about what Kagome would say if they told her that Kikyo had been involved in all this. Fact was Kikyo could just as likely be against them as for them. Either way hers was a name better left unsaid. Just in case.

"Well we won't know until we get in there." Mina pointed out and started forward, the rest following after her as they walked through the gate.

At first everything was dark and then things began to glow a decidedly goulish light. white shadows began to appear all around them that changed into faces some knew and others they didn't. A large number of them were dressed in the garbs of slayers, suggesting they were likely the fallen slayers that had once populated Sango's home. There were people dressed from Kagome's world, Inu yasha recognizing Kagome's father and grandmother from their pictures.

"Kaede!" Mika called out as she waved wildly to the priestess who's suddenly appeared on her right then bit back a gasp when a woman that had to be Kikyo joined Kaede's side.

"Lord Sesshoumaru." Came a familar voice from above and everyone looked up to see Kagura hovering above on her feather with her fan at the ready. "We are all at your service."

"Thank you for taking in our son as your own." Came a male voice and Inu yasha looked over to see a couple, the male looking too much like Shippou for this not to be the boy's father. "We are forever in your debt."

"Father..Mother." Shippou choked out, reaching out a hand to them and though his fingers passed through them he smiled back at them.

"Here they come." Hermione said as she pointed in front of them where other shapes were beginning to appear. The shapes taking on the forms of former enemies of the past, some long dead the battle was soon on with ghosts fighting ghosts. Forced to watch from the side lines as this wasn't their fight to win they all had to contend themselves with cheering for their various champions.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt. Way to stick it to him, slayers! Guess that'll teach the bastard to destroy your village and enslave Kohaku! Man but Kaede is a good shot, gotta love those snakey things of Kikyo's too. At least when they aren't attacking you personally." Shippou said as he kept up a running commentary as the fight went back and forth. As a whole there were a hell of a lot more bad guys then good guys but they had some serious ass kickers on their side.

"Hey..Dare?" Ren said quietly as he looked around with a faintly confused look on his face. "I was just noticing...well Shippou's parents are here and so is your mother's family and...well where's your father's parents? If his father was here this fight would likely already be won."

"Maybe he's on the opposing side." Mika said with a resigned look on her face. "I mean family never was high on the bastard's list."

"Well that's a lovely thought." Dare said with a why did you have to go and say something like that look on his face. "You know that as soon as you say something like that it's going to happen, if only to spite us. And damn it but I had a date with a really hot blonde lined up for next Thursday."

Ten minutes later the battle was over or at least it seemed so since the figures around them disapated in front of them and then there was nothing but a faint light in front of them. "Uhmmmm..do you think that means we can move?" Aiden said with a cautious look around. "I mean shouldn't there be a voice or some sign that we won or lost?"

"Well there's only one way to find out." Mina said with a shrug, starting forward then stopping as she saw that while the light in front of them was getting bigger there was also something standing in the light. Or someone was more accurate she realized. She couldn't make out who it was but there was definitely someone walking towards them, the light not bright enough to help identify their remaining surprise.

"I've got a bad feeling about this one." Hermione said as they all continued to walk forward though they never seemed to be getting any closer.

"Who do you suppose it is?" Dare said as he looked over at Aiden who just shrugged. "Whoever it is isn't very tall." Dare said thoughtfully, his head tilted slightly to the side. "And I'm getting a definite female vibe here."

"There is great pain and anger in this being." Triton said as his eyes blurred slightly as he used his powers to prod this being who was giving off such a violent aura. "This one is consumed with hatred and vengence...yet I sense it is not directed at anyone here though she bears hatred for you...Lord Sesshoumaru as well as...disgust for the children."

"I was wondering when she'd show up." Sesshoumaru said after a moment's pause. All during the ghostly battle he'd expected to see her attacking them but to his relief she hadn't appeared. He should have known they'd save her for last.

"You know who it is?" Mina said with a questioning look on her face, wondering who it was that could make Sesshoumaru's eyes that way. They were the strangest combination of fear, resignation, hope and hate.

"My mother."

"Sesshoumaru." Came the voice finally only it was no longer the soft voice from before. Instead this voice was full of anger, rage and loathing. "Well, well, well. Look what has become of my son, the Great Lord of the West. Could you have fallen any futher, I wonder? It doesn't seem possible."

"In my own eyes yes, while in yours not likely." Sesshoumaru said carefully, reining in what emotion he had left for her. Were this a couple decades ago the mere thought, much less sight of her would have brought the old fears and self hate back, threatening to drown him in their dark voids. But Sango and his children had made him see himself through their eyes and though her words and actions still pained him they were no longer open wounds for her to prod easily.

"Mated with a filthy, disgusting human, a slayer of our kind! Then, oh then you went and contaminated our blood further by actually producing children! Foul, un natural little abominations! You have reduced our line to nothing but weak, pathetic half breeds who don't deserve to breath the same air as the humans. They're worse then humans. Humans at least know their place. But what would one expect from you. You were always weak. Pathetic and as useless as any human. No one but a human would want a stupid, incompetent disgrace like you. You aren't fit to be called a demon, much less a lord."

"Oh you are going down, bitch." Dare said as he started forward, only to be stopped by his father's hand on his shoulder.

"Say what you will, mother. Just let us through." Sesshoumaru said calmly, as calmly as he could manage at that moment. Every drop of blood in his veins screamed to defend his family but he could never defend himself, much less his family from her. Besides, this wasn't what needed to be done. Nothing he said would change her mind. "She'll only feed on the negative, there's no use arguing with her either. I know."

"You're the pathetic one. You couldn't keep your mate in line, you arrogant bitch." Mika called out, her eyes flashing dangerously. Unlike her uncle she had no idea what she was dealing with. "And for your information no one wanted you. Not even if you could have found a human who was blind, deaf and dumber then a post. You're nothing but a small minded disgrace to YOUR blood!"

"The bastard's bastard. Your breeding shows true." Was the cold response, voice dripping with such coldness no one could doubt who Sesshoumaru had learned it from. "And look at you." She added, pointing a finger at Inu yasha. "You've escaped death far too often. Did you know my son there was too weak to kill you, even when you were a baby? He ended up saving your life rather then taking it. Then again he never could do anything right. He was literally the death of me." She added with a voice full of sarcasm as her eyes zeroed in on Sesshoumaru again. "After all, what mother could live knowing she'd spawned such a thing."

"You killed yourself, mother. Whatever part I played in you making that decision...it was still your choice." Sesshoumaru said quietly. "The days of me believing I drove you to it are over. You were unhappy and you had reason to be. But you are not the first woman to be cast aside nor the first to bare a son who could never live up to your expectations. I sat in that room for three days, covered in your blood while I waited for a father who didn't come. If I am a disappointment to you as a son then I would say you failed miserably as a mother. You both did as parents. Perhaps my children don't possess pure demon blood but I cannot find fault with any of them and have nothing but pride where they are concerned. I have been faithful to my mate and will be until the end of time as she will to me. I think, even if I am pathetic, stupid and unworthy of my lineage...that anyone would rather live my life then yours."

"Well said, Sesshoumaru." Came another female voice and everyone looked behind them to see a young woman walking towards Sesshoumaru's mother with fire in her eyes. She was human, dressed in the finery of a noblewoman and possessing great beauty.

"Mother..." Inu yasha whispered, staring at her as she moved around to stand between them and Sesshoumaru's mother.

"You!"

"Yes me. If you want to spill out your venom then aim it this way. Leave our sons out of it. You've already made yours suffer enough." Izayoi said, her dark eyes flashing dangerously. "Spew your hatred towards me or Inutaisho but leave them out of this. They are the innocents here."

"You would dare to tell me what to do? You disgusting whore."

"Call me what you will. Whatever vile name you wish to call me...I will take it. Speak one word against Sesshoumaru or Inu yasha and I will see to it that your stay in hell becomes that much worse." Izayoi countered evenly as she held up a hand to motion her son back, even though Sesshoumaru had already reached out to grab his brother's shoulder.

"I will speak however I want to my son."

"No. You can't. I won't stand by and let you hurt him anymore. I didn't know what you were then...but I know what you are now. You and I have never faced off against one another...perhaps if we had things would have been better. You hated me so much but because you feared the consequences you turned all that hate and loathing on to the person who needed you to love him the most. I stole his father from him. I didn't mean to. I should have thought of him, of his feelings and that what we were doing might hurt him. Hurt you. I can forgive anything you say against me because I know I deserve it. But all they ever did wrong was love their mothers. Whatever my faults I was a good mother...and had I had the chance after you died I would have tried to be a mother to your son. I never got that opportunity...but I will stand for him now against you."