Trial By Fire
By
Lady MoonHawke


    Sesshoumaru stared at the tiny cotton-and-silk swathed bundle the midwife had placed into his arms before slipping out to give the parents some privacy.  "You're sure?" he asked.

    Kagome chuckled tiredly.  "You were there, too, you know.  I don't think anything would have changed in the last hour."

    He looked over the baby's white-fuzzed head to her.  "You are well?"

    She nodded.  "Reasonably.  Just tired.  So, think of any names yet?"

    "I never considered this possibility.  I thought it would be…"

    "A boy?" she finished.  "Surprise.  You'd think after all the years you spent with Rin, the concept of a daughter wouldn't be so strange."

    "It was a possibility I never connected with myself. Especially considering the fact that I never intended to take a mate."

    His turn of phrase was blunt, but didn't hurt Kagome.  They both knew the other was not something they'd ever intended on having.  But it worked, somehow.  Maybe because neither had unrealistic expectations of the other.  "Well, time to consider it," she said, shifting and wincing a little.

    He was sitting next to her in an instant.  "Do you require anything?"

    She blinked slowly, shaking her head.  "Nothing you can get for me.  It's too bad aspirin hasn't been invented yet."

    "Aspirin?"

    "It's a pain killer.  Don't worry about it."  She leaned back against the pile of cushions.  "We can't just keep calling her the baby, you know."

    "It has only been an hour.  I don't believe she'll be, what is the phrase, 'scarred for life.'"

    "True, but I can't write to Sango until we settle on a name.  I owe her a letter or two as it is."

    "Your friend the exterminator bears pups at an unthinkable rate."

    Kagome shrugged.  "She and Miroku are making up for lost time.  And I think she has ideas about repopulating her taiji village."

    "How can she exterminate youkai if she's constantly pregnant?"

    "Miroku's not half-bad at it himself.  And they've had some other help."  She didn't go into further detail, and he didn't press.  Anyone who might be helping her old friends exterminate youkai would likely be a bad subject to bring up.  "This isn't getting the baby named."

    As if she'd heard, the infant in Sesshoumaru's arms stirred.  Her eyes, slate blue, already flecked with gold, opened, and her tiny pink lips started smacking as well.  "I think she's finding her appetite," Kagome suggested as she started to whimper.  "Is my little princess hungry?" she asked as Sesshoumaru placed the girl gently into her mother's arms.  He blinked as Kagome settled the baby at her breast, gently tracing one elfin ear.

    "Himeko," he said quietly.

    Kagome looked down at her daughter, taking in the blue crescent moon the baby shared with her brother, and the faintest markings of youkai striping on her tiny face.  "Himeko it is, then."


Six months later


    “Sango had another boy,” Kagome said, looking up from where she knelt reading next to the fire.

    Sesshoumaru didn’t look up from his own work.  “Did she?  How many is that now?”

    “Five.  She and Miroku got started right after Naraku was defeated, and they had twins in there somewhere.”

    “And you were doing something else?” Sesshoumaru asked.

    “Looking for the Shikon no kakera.  There were still some small fragments left.  Kikyo...”  She paused.  The miko’s name was almost has difficult to say sometimes as Inu-Yasha’s.  “Kikyo had at least one, Kouga had two.  It was hard to get them all.”

    “And did you ever find it all?  You never told me, you know, how the story ends.”  He set his brush down, attention focused solely on Kagome.

    “I... I honestly don’t know.  It’s one of those things I left behind.  I’d already fused the shards I had with the piece we finally took back from Naraku.”

    “And what became of that piece?” Sesshoumaru pressed.

    She shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I stopped caring once your brother said he wished I were dead.”  She looked across the room to him.  “You never cared about the Shikon no Tama.  Why ask now?”

    “I never desired it for myself,” he corrected gently.  “I was not anxious to see it end up in the hands of a creature like Naraku.”

    “Well, I’m fairly sure he didn’t get it.  He was a steaming mass of goo with about a dozen arrows sticking out of him before the last Kaze no Kizu vaporized him.”

    Sesshoumaru arched one smooth brow.  “Should I take care not to anger you, my Kagome?”

    She rose, crossing the room and kneeling across the table from him, leaning forward until her face was inches from his.  “Yeah.  I’ll shoot your ass full of purifying arrows.”

    “Surely that’s not the best use of my body you can think of.”

    Kagome was opening her mouth to retort when there was a tap at the fusama.  Crinkling her nose in annoyance, she settled back on her heels.  “Hai?”

    The door slid open, and Kagome’s chief servant, Hana, entered.  “Forgive me for interrupting, Kagome-sama.  Himeko-sama is awake.  I believe she is expecting her meal.”

    “Thank you, Hana.  I’ll be right there.”  Kagome turned and bowed to Sesshoumaru.  “Excuse me, please, Sesshoumaru-sama.  Your daughter calls.”

    “I’m perfectly willing to engage a nurse any time you wish, you know.”

    Kagome shook her head, rising.  “Not unless it was absolutely necessary.  One day, they’ll both be stronger than I am.  So right now, while she really needs me, I want to be there for her.”

    Sesshoumaru caught her hand as she moved toward the door.  “You have given them your own strong will.  I can find no fault in that.”

    She smiled at what was, for him, an expression of outright affection.  “Will I find you back here later?”

    “I will retire soon.”

    “Then I’ll find you somewhere else.  The rest of Sango’s letter is there, if you’re interested.”  She squeezed his hand and slipped out the door.


    "I read your letter from the taiji-ya."

    Kagome slid the fusama closed as Sesshoumaru rose and crossed the room to join her.  He was no less intimidating in a plain white yukata then he was wrapped in silks and armor.  "What did she have to say?"

    He lifted her heavily embroidered over-kimono off her, claws carefully turned away from her tender skin.  "She is concerned."

    "About what?"

    He pulled free the knot in her sash.  Though Hana's duties included helping Kagome don the layers of kimono he favored for her, Sesshoumaru reserved the right to unwrap her himself.  "The number of rogue youkai and oni around them has decreased suddenly.  She does not believe they have been that successful in their exterminations.  My brother is… irritated."

    She remained still as he pulled a yukata over her, watching as he tied the sash from behind.  "He's always irritated," she said dismissively.

    His hands spanned her waist, long fingers spread over her hipbones.  "Who are you thinking about right now?" he whispered, lips brushing her ear.

    She raised her arms, hands sliding around his neck under his spill of long silvery hair.  "You, of course.  Always you."  She tilted her head to the side, hair spilling free to reveal the mark he'd left the day her son was born.

    "You are my mate," he reminded her, inhaling her scent deeply.  "There is no room for another in your heart."  He pulled her back firmly against him, chest beginning to rumble with a growl.

    "No one but you," she agreed.


    The sun was shining through the oiled paper covering the windows when an argument in the hallway woke Sesshoumaru from his light doze.

    “Damn it, wench, get out of the way.  I know damn well where he is; I don’t need you to run ahead and announce me like some pox-ridden daimyo.”

    Sesshoumaru rolled out of the futon like lightning, standing between it and the fusama, pulling on his yukata.  “Inu-Yasha, if you value your life at all, you will remain outside this chamber.”  He heard his brother slump against the wall and the rustle of fire-rat fur as he folded his arms.

    “Feh.  Like you’ve got anything in there I ain’t seen before.”

    “Be that as it may, there are things you have no right to see again.  Hana, escort Inu-Yasha-sama to the main room.  Then return and help Kagome-sama to dress.”

    “Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama,” the maid said from the other side of the door.

    He heard Inu-Yasha’s grumbling recede in the distance, and the rustle of Kagome pulling herself from the tangle of covers on the futon.

    “What does he want?” she asked, dragging her own yukata on.

    “To live, at least for the moment.”  He plucked a brush from the dressing table and started to work the tangles from her hair, grown out past her waist.

    “You’re not going to get dressed and race out to find out what he wants?”  Her head dropped back as he brushed it with long even strokes.

    “Eventually.  Let him wonder what we’re doing while he’s waiting.”

    “You’re so mean sometimes.  Mmmm...don’t stop.”

    “And are you deliberately saying that loud enough to be heard by any nearby hanyou?  Evil witch.”

    She turned, putting her hair out of reach.  “Go get dressed, Oh Lord and Master.  I need to check on the baby before I get dressed anyway.”

    He caught her hand before she could move toward the door.  “Meet us for breakfast as soon as you’re done.  I think this is more than a courtesy call on my brother’s part.”

    “Good.  Inu-Yasha’s version of courtesy can leave a lot to be desired.”  She lifted his hand and rubbed it against her cheek.  It was probably the last physical contact he’d allow before they returned to this chamber again for the night.  “See you soon.”

    “We shall be waiting.”


    He caught Hana on her way back to the private apartments.  “Hana, see that Rin and the children take their breakfast in the garden this morning.  In particular, I want to keep Inu-chan away from the guests.”

    “Of course, Sesshoumaru-sama.  Do you wish this right away or after I assist Kagome-sama?”

    “Kagome-sama is with Hime-chan.  See to Rin and the boy first.”  The last thing Sesshoumaru wanted right then was for Inu-Yasha to see Sesshou-inu and realize what an idiot he had been.  The baka might get it into his fool head to try and win over the child’s affection.  And the boy had his mother’s generous heart, open to all.

    “Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama.  I’ll take Himeko-sama out to join them as soon as Kagome-sama is ready.”

    Sesshoumaru nodded and let her go, continuing on his way to the main rooms.  He found Inu-Yasha ensconced at a low table, with his human friends and a half-grown kitsune.

    “Well, Inu-Yasha, what was so important that you risked your life to try bursting into my private apartments?”

    Inu-Yasha swallowed a mouthful of rice and sneered.  “When did you turn into such a prude, anyway?  I don’t care if you wander around with your fur hanging out.”

    “But I mind if you stand around ogling my mate.  And my guests will mind when they have to watch your breakfast falling out the slice I’m about to take out of your throat.”

    The monk cleared his throat.  “Much as I’m sure you would enjoy, ah, catching up with Inu-Yasha, Sesshoumaru-san, there is a serious matter we came to address.”

    Sesshoumaru’s head turned, attention now fixed on the houshi.  “Oh?”

    “Yes.  Will Kagome-sama be joining us?  The matter concerns her greatly.”

    “Everything that concerns Kagome concerns me,” Sesshoumaru growled.

    “Of course, Sesshoumaru-san,” the monk agreed.  “I only wished to save time by telling the story only once.”

    Sesshoumaru snorted.  “She is attending the children and will join us when she is able.”

    “Yes, we heard the happy news about the arrival of your daughter.  Kagome-sama will be pleased to know that when we received word, I went to the local shrine to offer prayers of thanksgiving.”

    Sesshoumaru blinked.  “You, a Buddhist monk, husband of a taiji-ya, made prayers of thanksgiving at a shrine for the birth of a youkai child?  The world is turning into a very strange place.”

    “Hanyou,” Inu-Yasha muttered.

    Sesshoumaru turned his glare back to his brother.  “No, Inu-Yasha.  Youkai.  My mate purged both children of their human blood.  They are pure youkai, and accepted by the council as such.”  He looked away then, rising and crossing  the room as the fusama opened to reveal Kagome, decked out in layer upon layer of kimono.  It was far from the full junihito effect of twelve layers, but it was stunning nonetheless, with four layers of wrapped kimono, and one loose embroidered kimono draped over everything.  He escorted her in, and she exchanged warm embraces with both the taiji-ya and the houshi, who was jokingly warned to mind his hands.  (He did, Sesshoumaru noticed.)  But she offered Inu-Yasha only a polite but distant greeting, as though he were someone she didn’t care much for but was forced to acknowledge.

    She settled at Sesshoumaru’s side, habitually pouring him tea and serving him breakfast before the servants served them all.  “So what are you all doing here?” she asked once breakfast was underway.

    “There’s been a slight problem,” Miroku started, reaching for his tea.  Kagome saw his right hand then, then hand he’d been trying to keep hidden below the table.  The hand encased once again in a leather cuff, with prayer beads wrapped around it.

    “Oh, no!”  She reached across the table impulsively, grasping his hand between hers.  A blue glow emanated from their clasped hands for a moment, then she released him slowly.  “I’m sorry.  I can’t get rid of it.  It’s too dark, too evil.  I can’t purify the energy used to create it.”

    “Thank you for trying, Kagome-sama.  But that’s not why we’re here, not entirely.”

    She looked from Miroku’s hand to Sango’s haunted expression.  “He’s back, isn’t he?  How?  What happened?  Did he destroy the village again?”

    Sango shook her head.  “Not entirely.  I... We knew what it was this time, we managed to save some of the people, the children, mostly.  The boys are safe.  But so many people died anyway, so many friends...”

    Inu-Yasha jumped to his feet.  “Just get dressed and get your stuff together.  We don’t have a lot of time to waste,” he said before stalking out into the courtyard.

    She stared after him a moment, then turned back to Sango.  “What was that about?”

    Sango lowered her eyes.  “There was a girl.  It wasn’t anything, Kagome-chan, but they were friends.  She... didn’t survive the attack.”

    Kagome sighed.  “Poor Inu-Yasha.”  Beside her, Sesshoumaru stood, and she reached up, catching his hand, throwing caution to the wind.  “Don’t be angry with him, please.”

    “I?  I, Sesshoumaru, have nothing to be angry about.”  He walked away then, following his brother out the door.

    “Oh, boy,” Kagome sighed.  “He’s doing the ‘I, Sesshoumaru’ thing again.”

    “Is that bad?” Sango asked.

    “It isn’t good,” Kagome said ominously.


    He was perched on the wall surrounding the castle compound, staring out at the deep forest beyond.

    Sesshoumaru stared up at him for a long minute.  “Come down here,” he said at last.

    Inu-Yasha snorted and made himself more comfortable.

    “We can do this the difficult way, if you wish.  I’m sure Kagome will come out here and say ‘osuwari’ if I ask her.”

    Inu-Yasha tossed something over his shoulder at his brother, and Sesshoumaru caught it, a small violet prayer bead.  “She took it off a long time ago,” Inu-Yasha said, not turning around.  “I throw one away every time I start thinking I can live without her.”

    “And when you have no beads left?”

    “I’ll be over it by then, won’t I?”

    “How many do you have left?” Sesshoumaru asked, ascending to stand beside him on the wall.

    “Too many,” the hanyou said.

    “She is no longer yours, Inu-Yasha.  Do not dare to fight me on this.”

    He sighed.  “I know.  I’ve just been hers for too long.”

    “You should never have threatened to kill her.”

    “I know, I know!  Everyone says that, I broke her heart.”

    Sesshoumaru snorted.  “You broke more than that.  You broke her spirit.  I have been years rebuilding it.  You always make more work for me, brother.”

    “Sorry.  I just can’t seem to summon up any sympathy for you.  You have everything I ever wanted.  And every time I think I may have gotten something good, it falls apart in my hands.”

    Kagome’s generous heart must have rubbed off on him, Sesshoumaru reflected.  He reached out and put a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder.  “Don’t hold on so tightly, or you’ll only destroy what you’re striving so hard to keep.”  He was going to have to speak seriously to Kagome about her kind spirit and its effect on him.  “Sesshou-inu made his first kill that way,” he related, offering his brother a flag of truce.

    “Yeah?  What was it?”

    “Some bug he wanted to show Kagome.”

    Inu-Yasha laughed.  “How’d he like it?”

    “I think he lost faith that day in my ultimate goodness.”

    “Your ultimate goodness?  What kind of fairy tales are you raising that boy on?”

    “He knows only that Kagome and I would move heaven and earth for him.  And that bugs taste bad.”

    “Have to agree with him there.”  Inu-Yasha sighed.  “I need Kagome for this.  I, we, can’t do this without her.”

    “It is her decision,” Sesshoumaru answered after a moment.  “But if she chooses to go, I will accompany her.  She is mine to protect now, brother.  That must be perfectly clear.”

    “Crystal.”

    They shared another long moment of silence.  "Come with me," Sesshoumaru said at last.

    Every difficult, Inu-Yasha snorted.  "Why?"

    His brother sighed.  "Because I wish to show you something, you idiot."  He glided down from the wall and walked away, listening to Inu-Yasha land behind him.  "You're still too noisy."

    "I get by," he replied, footsteps deliberately crunching in the dirt courtyard.

    "Do you do these things just to irritate me?" Sesshoumaru asked, leading him around the side of the main building.

    "Why do you let it bother you?  I'm so far beneath your notice, aren't I?"

    "Huh."  They passed through a gate set in a high fence and into a spectacular garden, carved and sculpted out of the forest behind the compound.  Groundskeepers worked in different areas, pruning and raking, each pausing to kneel and bow as the lord passed, returning to their quiet chores at a negligent wave of his hand.  He led Inu-Yasha through a creek-bordered grove, then over a bridge onto a grassy lawn with a pavilion at its center.  There was a table under the ornate roof, and a large area fenced in by several waist-high open lattice-work screens.

    A dark-haired young woman and a silver-haired boy sat at the table, parchment, ink and brushes strewn over the surface.  The young woman carefully finished what she was writing and handed the sheet to the boy.  "Read that back for me now," she instructed.

    "Rin," Sesshoumaru said quietly, and the girl looked up instantly.

    "Sesshoumaru-sama!"  She jumped to her feet and bowed.  "Ohayo gozaimasu."

    "Ohayo."  He gaze shifted to the boy, who had risen as well.  "Ohayo, Sesshou-inu."

    He boy bowed.  "Ohayo gozaimasu, Otou-sama."  He stood waiting, until something shifted minutely in Sesshoumaru's face, then ran to embrace the taiyoukai's legs.  "Come see what I'm reading, Otou-sama."

    "Inu-chan, I want you to meet someone."  He peeled the boy away from his legs gently.  "This is my younger brother, Inu-Yasha."

    The boy stared up at him for a long moment.  "Ohayo gozaimasu, Inu-Yasha-jisama."

    "Eh, don't be so formal.  Call me Inu-Yasha, okay?"  He crouched down to the boy's eye-level.

    "Okay.  Hey, you got my ears!" Inu-chan squealed with delight, pointing.

    Inu-Yasha smirked.  "Maybe you got my ears, eh, puppy?"

    The boy shook his head.  "Nah.  I got them from Jii-sama.  I saw a picture."

    Sesshoumaru had moved away to speak quietly to Rin, so Inu-Yasha felt more comfortable letting his guard down.  "Well, your Jii-sama was my Otou-sama.  So maybe we both got them from him."

    This seemed to please the boy.  "Yeah!"  He grabbed Inu-Yasha's hand, dragging him forward so he had to stand to avoid falling.  "Come see my sister.  She didn't get the ears."

    He followed at the boy's insistence over to the low surround.  A cloth was laid out inside, and an infant girl sat on it, gnawing viciously on a carved wooden shape, already liberally dented with fang-marks.

    "That's Himeko," Sesshou-inu announced.  "She doesn't do anything yet.  Okaa-sama says she will soon, but I don't like to wait."

    Inu-Yasha glared over at Sesshoumaru.  "You put her in a cage?" he asked, shocked.

    "Kagome prefers it.  She believes it keeps her from crawling away and getting hurt."

    Inu-Yasha snorted.  "You've been leashed, brother.  Admit it."

    "Don't test me, brother.  You'll find out how loose the leash, as you put it, really is."

    He stared down at the baby, who seemed possessed of Kagome's heart-shaped face set with Sesshoumaru's cool gold eyes and distinctive markings.  She crawled to the edge of the fencing nearest him and pulled herself to her knees, tiny clawed fingers gripping the lattice-work.  She babbled cheerfully up at Inu-Yasha, revealing the first hints of sharp fangs.  It struck Inu-Yasha then that this could have been his life, these his children, Sesshou-inu's siring aside.  He flopped to his knees, arms folded on the edge of the fencing, chin resting on top.  "I'm such an idiot."

    Sesshoumaru stared down at him.  "Yes," he agreed.  "But in your defense, you are young,  You have time to make stupid mistakes."

    He glanced over to Sesshou-inu.  "Not like this.  Not that affect others like this."  He stood, walking away from the pavilion and into the sunshine, Sesshoumaru following.  "Not when it means I can't raise my own son," he added quietly.

    Sesshoumaru's voice dropped dangerously low.  "Inu-Yasha…" he started, but the hanyou waved him off.

    "It's not that," he insisted.  "He's better off here with you, anyway.  It's just….  It's what I wanted, and I don't get why I don't have it."

    "And it is the last thing I wanted, yet it fell into my lap.  It's a little ironic that you have the sword I always wanted, and I have the human you desired."

    "I'm not trading," Inu-Yasha spat.

    "And I am not suggesting such an exchange," Sesshoumaru spat back.  "I considered it at first," he said after a long moment.

    "Don't tell me you fell in love, Sesshoumaru.  You don't work like that."

    "No.  I did not 'fall in love.'  That is a human weakness.  She was carrying your pup.  It gave me a better position from which to bargain.  And then…"

    "Then?" Inu-Yasha pressed.

    "Then I grew used to her.  Her presence was… acceptable."  He took in Inu-Yasha's confused expression and rolled his eyes.  "Rin's presence is amusing.  She is unconditionally accepting of her situation."

    "She loves you, for whatever reason."

    "Yes, that is Kagome's term for it as well.  Kagome's presence  was stimulating."  He heard Inu-Yasha's snort of disgust.  "Not like that, you cretin.  She talked of things from her time, she made an effort to educate Rin.  She was interesting."

    "And now you've fallen in love with her," Inu-Yasha stated.

    Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes again.  "You are so human, brother.  She is my Mate, my companion.  She is… there, and I do not have to be alone any longer."  He glanced back over to the pavilion.  "She is the mother to my heir, the mother of a daughter I never knew I wanted this much.  She brought life back into this dying heap of a castle, and I will not give her up."

    "Who's asking you to?  I'm not saying she won't come back.  I'm just saying I need to… borrow her.  Anyway, she's loyal to you now.  Nothin's gonna change that."

    Sesshoumaru heard Kagome's light voice float on the wind across the lawn, as well of the voices of her companions.  He heard Rin and Sesshou-inu run to greet her, and her happy greetings in return.  Then her sound and scent moved closer and her kimono rustled as she bent and cooed to the baby.  She approached them, coming around from behind Inu-Yasha and placing the baby into his unsuspecting arms.

    To his credit, he didn't drop her, but stared at Kagome, shocked.  "What?"

    "You should get to know her," Kagome said, moving to stand on Sesshoumaru's other side.

    "I should wh-  Kagome, she smells!"  He successfully juggled the baby into one arm and clapped a sleeve-covered hand to his nose.

    "Yes," Kagome said serenely.  "She needs changing.  Hana can show you what to do."

    He sputtered indignantly until Sesshoumaru spoke up.  "Inu-Yasha, that smell is not going to get any better.  I suggest you make haste, before you require a change of garments as well."

    The hanyou's eyes went wide, and he stalked off across the lawn muttering, baby held gingerly at a distance.

    "You sent him away," Sesshoumaru noted once the pair had entered the building, a fretful Hana following closely.

    "Yes.  I… I think I should go, with Sango and Miroku.  There are too many coincidences, too many things that are similar to what was happened just before we went up against Naraku.  They need my help."

    "I see."  He was silent for a long moment.  "I shall go with you."

    "Sesshoumaru, you don't have-" she started, but he cut her off.

    "It is necessary.  You are my mate, and mine to protect.  I will not turn that responsibility over to another while there is a choice in the matter."  He fell silent, and the discussion was closed, at least from his point of view.

    Kagome, however, had different ideas.  "Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama," she agreed, her tone mocking.

    He cast a quick glance down at her, admiring the determined set of her jaw and sparkle of her eyes.  "Why should I allow another the pleasure of your company?"

    "We’re going to have plenty of company, my Lord.  This isn't a casual stroll through the woods."

    He huffed slightly.  "You say this as though I have no idea what you are doing.  I have traveled these islands longer than you have been alive.  I know what is out there."

    "I faced Naraku, you know."

    "As have I.  Your point?"

    "I watched his dust dissipate into the sky.  I watched him die."

    "Apparently not, if he has returned to create more chaos."  He turned and stared full into her eyes.  "You are attempting to compete with me."

    She arched an eyebrow and shrugged one shoulder elegantly, a gesture he recognized as one of his own.  "Maybe."

    "You are a truly remarkable creature to attempt to compete with this Sesshoumaru."

    A smile broke across her face, ruining the attempt at bored condescension.  "Well, I love you, too."

    "Youkai do not love."  It was an old argument, and one that had no bite.

    "Of course not.  They'd just die for one another, kill for one another, move the planet because it was convenient," she said airily.  "I should check on Himeko.  Gods only know what a mess Inu-Yasha's had a chance to make of her."

    "You did not encourage him to bond with Sesshou-inu," Sesshoumaru pointed out.

    "No, and I won't.  I don't ever want Inu-chan's loyalties confused.  In my heart, he is your son."  Her solemn countenance had returned.

    "You honor me," he said quietly.

    Her lips twitched up in a smile.  "You deserve it.  I'm going in.  We're going to leave in the morning, yes?"

    At least she was  no longer arguing about the make-up of the party.  "Yes."

    "I'll start having things put together, then.  And I'll have to find something else to wear.  This is just a little heavy for long trips on foot," she said, waving her long sleeves.

    "Anything but your former traveling costume," Sesshoumaru said.

    "Anything?"

    "Anything more decent.  I do not relish fending off hormone-addled youkai needlessly."

    "I'll see what I can do."  She reached out to squeeze his arm gently, then turned and made her way toward the building, joining her friends along the way.

    Sesshoumaru watched as the kitsune hugged her fiercely, hearing his childish voice chatter endlessly about the many great adventures he had been on, clearly tales embellished for Kagome's benefit.  She embraced her other former companions again, shaking a jesting finger at the monk before accepting his embrace.  And the taiyoukai noted that the monk kept his hands to reasonable areas, under the close watch of both the fox-child and the taiji-ya.  He sighed softly as they all entered the house, Rin and Sesshou-inu following, caught up in the conversation.  For one bright and shining moment, he wished his brother and the others had never come to his home.  Nothing truly good could come of it.


    They weren't more than a ri from the castle and a tearful parting from the children when the arguments between Inu-Yasha and Kagome started again, almost as if the past five years had evaporated.

    "Inu-Yasha?"

    "What, wench?"  He instantly regretted his choice of words, but it was too late to take it back.

    "Where is it?" she asked.

    "Where's what?"

    She sighed in exasperation.  "The Shikon no Tama, Inu-Yasha.  Where is the Jewel?"

    "It's safe.  Why do you care?"

    She sighed again and skipped around in front of him, stopping him in his tracks, her hand out between them.  "Give it to me, Inu-Yasha."

    He glared at her, wrapped up in what must have been one of Sesshoumaru's old traveling outfits, looking like some short, dark-haired version of his brother.  She even had the expression down.  "Why should I?  You gave it to me, after all."

    "It's incomplete, Inu-Yasha.  You still can't use it."

    "How do you know?  Maybe I found the last of the shards."

    "And maybe you found a miko powerful enough to restore it, too.  But I doubt it."

    Sango and Miroku ground to a halt behind them, and Shippou took the opportunity to flop to the ground.  "Here we go again," he muttered, leaning back against a fallen tree and closing his eyes.  Sango and the houshi sat down next to him, waiting the fight out.

    They were still there when Sesshoumaru walked up a few minutes later from his position covering the rear of their party.

    "Why have you stopped?"

    Sango pointed up the road, where the fight had been reduced to a glaring contest between the iron-willed contenders.

    The youkai's eyes narrowed.  "What are they doing?"

    "Fighting," Miroku said succinctly.

    "Why?"

    "Kagome-sama wants the jewel, Inu-Yasha doesn't want to give it to her, he's stubborn, and she is… fixed in her will as well.  These things used to end much sooner."  The monk grunted as Sango planted an elbow in his ribs.

    "How did they end?" Sesshoumaru asked ominously.

    Shippou chose that moment to pipe up.  "Kagome would say sit.  Or hug Inu-Yasha.  Or cry and get him to hug her."

    Sesshoumaru turned his gaze back to the arguing pair.  "Indeed."  He turned away, moving up the road to join them.


    He's still so infuriating, Kagome thought.  You'd think in five years, a person would change, but no, of course not… Can't even 'sit' him anymore, either.

    "Just give it to me, Inu-Yasha.  This is pointless."

    "No.  It's mine, I'm-"

    "Inu-Yasha."  They both turned to see Sesshoumaru striding up to them, his pace unhurried.  "Give her the Jewel."

    "No! It's-"

    "Inu-Yasha!"  Sesshoumaru's eyes were starting to glow, and  a sudden breeze was ruffling his hair.  "Don't argue with me!" he growled.

    Hanyou and youkai glared at each other for a moment, then Inu-Yasha relented.  Reaching into his haori, he yanked something free from around his neck and tossed it into Kagome's hands.  "Fine.  Here."  He stormed away, muttering curses under his breath.

    Sesshoumaru's attention turned to Kagome.  "Avoid him for now," he instructed bluntly.

    She nodded quickly.  "Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama."  This was the side of him she never toyed with.  The beast in him was much too close to the surface.

    Satisfied with her agreement, he allowed the youki to disperse, eyes returning to their normal gold and wind vanishing.  He turned and looked back at the others, who were on their feet already, anticipating a violent confrontation.  "We should continue.  Naraku is waiting."  He guided Kagome away, one hand on her back.

    "He certainly has a way with words," Miroku murmured as they set out again.


    It was easy for Sesshoumaru to say 'avoid him,' and only a little more difficult for Kagome to agree, particularly in the face of his rarely revealed temper.  But they were a small party, and when Sesshoumaru had insisted on leaving behind most of the supplies Kagome had marked for the trip, she had made him the defacto procurer of game. 

    They had established camp shortly before sunset near a river, the elder dog demon suppressing a comment about losing more time while the younger merely found a comfortable tree branch from which to mutter under his breath.

    Kagome unpacked the much-reduced bag she had managed to bring along.  "I'll have the fire going before you get back," she said brightly.

    "And I am to hunt?" Sesshoumaru asked again.  He had yet to completely accept the idea.

    "Unless you want me to starve," she said sweetly.

    "Are you deliberately irritating me now, or is it merely a by-product of your stubbornness?"  She calmly returned his gaze until her relented.  “Very well.  What do you want?”

    “Whatever’s handy,” she replied.  “Enough for seven.  And your brother eats everything in sight, I should mention.”

    “Who asked you, bi-”  Inu-Yasha wisely kept the rest of his thoughts on the matter to himself.

    Sesshoumaru glanced up into the tree.  “Watch her, Inu-Yasha.”

    “Feh.”

    Kagome smiled up at her mate.  “I’ll be fine.  Sango and Miroku aren’t far.”

    He knelt down, back turned to Inu-Yasha’s branch.  “I worry for you out here.  I cannot control every aspect of this journey,” he said voice soft enough not to carry.

    “I don’t expect you to,” she replied.  “But I really would like something to cook on this fire I’m supposed to be starting.”

    Shippou trotted up then, a bundle of wood clutched in his arms.  He steered well clear of Sesshoumaru, dropping the fuel for the fire into a cleared area near Kagome.  “Whew!  Is that enough, Kagome, or do you want more?”

    “Wow, Shippou, that’s great.  We should be set for the night with that load.”  She looked back and saw Sesshoumaru vanishing into the forest away from the river.  She sighed quietly, then forced herself to cheer up.  “Okay, Shippou.  Why don’t you see about some rocks for the fire?  There should be some good ones over by the river, but try not to bug Sango-chan and Miroku-sama.  They probably haven’t had a lot of privacy since you guys left the taiji village, ne?”

    “I guess not.  But I overheard her telling Miroku no more babies until Naraku was dust for sure.  He wasn’t very happy, but he agreed that it was best.”  Shippou picked a the dirt with a twig.  “Kagome?”

    “Yes, Shippou?”

    “Why are grown-ups so strange sometimes?”

    Kagome thought for a minute, then shook her head.  “I couldn’t tell you.  I don’t know if it’s because I am a grown-up, or because I haven’t figured it out myself.”

    “Oh.  You’ll tell if you figure it out, though, right?”

    She reached over and gathered him into a hug.  He was a good deal bigger than Sesshou-inu, but it was still nice to be able to hug a little boy.  “You bet I will.  Now go see about those rocks, or I won’t have this fire ready in time, and we don’t want Sesshoumaru to be angry, do we?”

    The kitsune jumped up and scrambled away, fear of the inuyoukai making him scamper.

    There was a mocking laugh from the tree line.  “Sesshoumaru wouldn’t touch a hair on your head, and you know it,” Inu-Yasha pointed out.

    “That doesn’t mean I want to deliberately set about making him angry.”

    He jumped to the ground and crossed to where she was setting up the first wood for the night’s fire.  “So it was just me you liked to make angry.”

    She tossed a stick, disrupting the conical shape she had been building.  “I think this is a ridiculous time to talk about it,” she said coolly, reshaping the fire.

    “You think we should put it off another five years?  You think things will be better then, when you’ve squeezed out a couple more pups for my brother?”

    “Your brother was kind to me.  It’s more than I can say for you.”

    “You killed Kikyo right in front of me!” he shouted.  “What was I supposed to do?  I swore I would protect her.”

    “And I swore you would live if it was in my power.  She was dragging you to Hell in front of me!” Kagome shouted back.  “What was I supposed to do, Inu-Yasha?”  She fumed for a minute, then stood and walked away.  “You know what?  Forget it.  I’ll find your damned missing shards, and I’ll help you with Naraku, again, and that’s it.  I was right when I said to leave us alone.  It really is for the best all around.”   She climbed the low bank toward the trees where Sesshoumaru had disappeared and sat down, arms wrapped around drawn-up knees, lost in her own thoughts.


    Sesshoumaru returned to find a fire burning brightly in the camp, the houshi and kitsune settled near it.  A quick test of the wind said that his brother was still up a tree, but there was no sign of Kagome or the taiji-ya.  He crossed the camp area to Inu-Yasha's tree, ignoring the others.  The hanyou appeared to be staring off into space, lost in thought, but Sesshoumaru caught the shift of Inu-Yasha's hand as it moved toward the Tetsusaiga's hilt.  "Where is Kagome?"

    "The river," Inu-Yasha replied.  "Upstream, bathing.  Sango's with her."  He waved a hand to indicate they were somewhere behind him, clearly out of eye shot.

    Sesshoumaru grunted and tossed his catch up into the tree, several fat hares, their heads hanging at odd angles, throats already slit.  "Make yourself useful," he directed, moving toward the bank and heading upstream.

    "Where're you going?" Inu-Yasha asked, jumping down, rabbits in hand.

    "To the bath.  Don't waste time.  Those aren't going to improve with age."

    "Feh."  He headed for the river as well, as far downstream as he could reasonably get.


    He was careful to make noise as he made his way upstream; the taiji-ya was sensitive to youki and known to carry several weapons on her person at all times.  Though she couldn't seriously injure him, she was frankly worthy of his respect as an opponent.  And he had no interest in suffering even minor injuries and having to waste the energy necessary to heal them.

    The exterminator's voice rang out.  "Who's there?"

    "It is I, Sesshoumaru, Taiji-ya-san."

    She appeared from behind a tree, sheathing her katana.  "Sango is fine, Sesshoumaru-san."

    He nodded.  "Sango-san.  Where is Kagome?"

    "There's a hot spring, about ten paces further up.  I came down to see who was coming."  She stepped out of the way, clearing the path, and he continued forward, pausing when he drew abreast of her.

    "Thank you," he said quietly, then moved on.

    She watched him making his way up the path, and blinked.  "You're welcome," she said at last, then turned to make her way back to camp.


    She'd sat on the rise until full dark, when the warmth of the sun had vanished and the wind grown too chilly to stay so far from the warmth of the camp.  But at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to sit at the fire that had eventually been started by one of her preciously hoarded lighters.  It may have been five years old, but she'd been careful to preserve the little technological marvels.  And it would never do to leave anachronistic items lying around carelessly.  She still shuddered every time she thought of the soda cans and snack food wrappers they'd discarded in the past.  Some archeologist was going to have a coronary in 400 years, thinking his precious Sengoku Jidai dig had been contaminated by picnicking teens.

    The cold wind had finally overcome her inertia, and she'd wandered the outskirts of their camp, careful to stay in view of Shippou and Inu-Yasha.  She may have been fuming mad at the hanyou, but he certainly didn't deserve the wrath Sesshoumaru would visit on his brother if he returned to find her missing.  When Sango and Miroku had rejoined them with tales of a natural hot spring in the area, she'd jumped at the opportunity, and Sango had generously offered to come along, 'for company.'  It seemed to relieve Inu-Yasha as well, that he wouldn't be required to guard his brother's mate while she bathed.  And it certainly suited Kagome just fine.

    There was a rustle in the bushes across the small spring, and she stilled her small movements in the warm water.  "Sango-chan?"

    "No.  I have returned."

    She lifted her head and opened her eyes, smiling at her mate.  "Hi.  Want to join me?  The water's nice."  She lifted one foot out of the pool, wiggling her toes.

    He knelt on the bank just downstream from her, rinsing the last of the hares' blood from his claws.  "No.  I cannot protect you if I am… distracted."  He rose, flicking water off his hands, staring at her intently.

    Kagome resisted the urge to curl up modestly, willing the rising heat in her face to pass for a reaction to the warm water.  "All right.  I won't be much longer, then."

    "There is no need for you to rush," he told her, settling against the trunk of a large tree.  "Remain as long as you wish."

    "Not much for me to do if you're not coming in," she replied.  "I'm clean, I've washed my hair, I've had a good soak.  I'd like your company, but I understand your reasons."  She crossed the pool, folding her arms on a rock close to him and resting her chin on them.  "Why aren't you up in the tree?"

    "What?"

    "Why aren't you keeping watch from in the tree?  Inu-Yasha always heads straight up some trunk or another to keep watch.  I'm just wondering why you don't."

    "My brother prefers to attack from cover.  I prefer to intimidate any potential danger into reconsidering their actions."  His tone was neutral, but she knew he wasn't thrilled with the subject at hand.

    "Mmmm.  Bet you stay a lot cleaner that way."  She pushed away from the rock and stood, water sluicing down her body.

    "You are done, then?"

    He could keep his tone disinterested, she noticed, and most of his face.  But she caught the flicker in his eyes that made her warm in places the hot spring couldn't reach.  "Yes.  My clothing's-" She stared to point it out, but he was already wrapping her in a length of thin toweling and drying her.

    "You are trying to tempt this Sesshoumaru, are you not?" he whispered in her ear.

    'H-hai.  But it's backfiring.  I'm tempting myself more"

    His arms wrapped around her from behind, but loosely, careful to keep her away from the spikes on his armor.  "This is no time for distractions, Kagome.  But when the journey is over, and we have returned home…"  He leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to the scars marring the side of her neck.  "You are mine, and I will allow nothing to touch you."  He pulled her closer for a brief second, the released her.  "You should dress.  Dinner will be ready soon."

    He'd retreated to let her dress, and reluctantly she pulled the silky kimono and hakama back on.  "Damn you, Naraku. Why couldn't you have found some other damned miko to fixate on?"


    Dinner had been a little strained, but it certainly wasn't due to any lack in the meal itself.  Cleaned, quartered and threaded on green branches, the hares had been roasted perfectly over the fire, flavored with some herbs Sango had gathered and the overall hunger of the group themselves.  Then they'd cleaned up quickly and split for the night.  Sango and Miroku curled up with Kirara near the fire, and Inu-Yasha returned to his favorite branch for the night, dragging Shippou with him.  Much as the kit had missed his foster mother over the years, they were all aware that Sesshoumaru would have no patience for another male demon, half-grown or not, cuddling up to her during the night.  Their children were one thing; unrelated kitsune were an entirely different issue.

    Inu-Yasha had finally pulled him from the girl's embrace, stalking toward his tree.  "She's gonna cry," he muttered as he passed Sesshoumaru.  "Gods, I hate it when she cries."  With a leap, he was on the branch, the fox plunked down on another nearby branch.  "Don't go wanderin' off," he warned, crossing his arms and settling against the trunk.  "Don't want to have to go lookin' for you."

    Sesshoumaru heard his brother settle in and joined Kagome.  "Are you ready to retire?"

    She laughed a little, the words so incongruous to the setting.  The fire was banked for the night, the moon, just a few nights past new already gone from the sky.  She realized then that this journey had been carefully planned, to give them as much time as possible to find and cope with Naraku before the darkest night came again to rob Inu-Yasha of his strength.  She dashed away the tears forming in her eyes.  One day out and she was already homesick.  She'd be no use to anyone at this rate if she didn't get a grip on herself.  "Yes.  You're picking a tree, I take it?"

    "I prefer something solid at my back, yes."  He led her into the grove, finding a tree than seemed to suite him.  He sat, back against the trunk, and she curled up next to him, the warm fur wrapping around her and shutting out the cold of the night.


    Kagome…

    She stirred a little, and Sesshoumaru's grip tightened a little, pulling her closer.

    Kagome…

    What?  I'm sleeping here…

    'When does the bird come out of the cage?'

    I'm sick of that joke.  I'm going back to sleep.  She curled herself further into Sesshoumaru's arms, burying her nose in the warm fur.

    We need to speak.

    Kagome let herself drift until she could see the speaker in her dream.  Dark hair, red hakama, dark line that resolved into a bow, every thing else a glare of white, except for two dark gray pools until the hair.  Go away, Kikyo.  We have nothing to say to each other.

    You killed me.  I think I've earned the right to a few words.

    I'd do it again, Kagome insisted, fisting her hand and willing a bow into it.  It was her dream after all.  Make it quick.

    The fault for my death falls not on you.

    So nice of you to say so.  Bye.

    I have not finished yet.  Your arrows purified the creature that was holding me back, and I thank you for that.

    Kagome frowned.  That's all you wanted to tell me?

    Kikyo nodded.  For the moment.  Later, I may have more to tell you.  There had to be peace between us first.

    So having failed to kill Inu-Yasha and I several times over, now you want peace?

    That thing, that living doll that Urasue created and Naraku used was not me.  Not the true me.  It was an abomination, and I am grateful for its destruction.  I am free now to live on in you.

    You're free to do whatever you want.  I'm rather busy being Kagome at the moment.

    So I had noticed.  And with our beloved's brother, as well.

    Your beloved, if you insist.  That was never in the cards for Inu-Yasha and I.

    And yet you bore him a son.

    My son belongs to Sesshoumaru, and only happened to be sired by Inu-Yasha.   Kagome frowned a little in her sleep.  I'm tired of this conversation.  You know where to find me if you have anything else to say.

    Kagome woke and shifted a little, pressing closer to Sesshoumaru and letting thoughts of him fill her head as she drifted back to sleep.


    “Kagome.”

    She squirmed unhappily.  “Not again.  I’m sleeping, okay?”

    “Kagome?”

    She opened her eyes and saw Sesshoumaru staring down at her, eyebrows drawn together.  “Oh, it’s you,” she said, voice filled with relief.  “Good.”  She closed her eyes and tried to snuggle back down, but felt herself lifted away from her warm cocoon.  She opened her eyes again, frowning.  “What?”

    “Who were you anticipating, may I ask?”  His voice was icy; definitely unhappy.

    “I had a bad dream.  Kikyo was talking to me.”

    Sesshoumaru’s expression changed to one of concern.  “You have not mentioned dreams of her in the past.”

    “I don’t think I’ve dreamed of her before.  Hope I don’t again.”

    He stood, helping to her feet as well.  “What did the miko want?”

    “To rehash the last seven years.  I got bored with arguing about... something, and told her to take a hike.  It’s getting blurry.”  She stretched, then tucked the neck of her kimono a little more closed from where it had slipped open during the night.  “Must not be a big deal.”

    “And she did not try to harm you?”

    She shrugged.  “Hurt my feelings a little, maybe.  She didn’t shoot at me, so I’m fine.”  Her stomach rumbled and she laughed lightly.  “Okay, I’m a little hungry, but not injured.”

    “That, I can attend.”  From his kimono sleeve, he produced a large yellow plum with a delicate pink blush, handing it to her.  “I found a grove, and thought they might serve for a morning meal.  The taiji-ya has the rest.”

    Kagome lifted it to her nose and inhaled deeply.  “Mmmm.  Smells wonderful.  Itadakimasu,” she said then took a big bite.  Juice ran down her chin, and she raised her other hand to catch it.  “Wow.  Really, really good.  I hope you picked a lot.”

    The corner of his mouth quirked up.  “Enough to last for several days.  It was worth the effort to see you enjoy it.”

    “Arigato.  You always take such good care of me.”

    He caught her juice-covered hand and brought it to his lips, licking away the trail of juice from her palm to her wrist.  “You are mine to protect, to defend, to care for.  I would be remiss if I did not...”

    These were the rare moments Kagome lived for, when Sesshoumaru let down his walls enough for her to see into the center of his being.  And they were the moments as well that Shippou seemed forever bound to interrupt, no matter who was pouring out their heart to her.

    “Oi, Kagome!  Are you up ye- Ah!  He’s gonna eat her!”  The kitsune bolted back through the bushes, shrieking at the top of his lungs.

    Kagome wrapped her fingers around Sesshoumaru’s wrist as his head turned to track the fox-child.  She knew that look, the one that said the hunt would be on if she didn’t stop him, fast, and she had about thirty seconds before the others crashed through the bushes to ‘save’ her.  She switched her grip from his arm to the back of his neck and pulled him down to her, kissing him soundly.

    His eyes snapped to hers, aware of her again, and she released him slowly.  “Hi there,” she murmured.

    He was not especially amused.  “You distracted me deliberately.”

    “Yes.  Because he’s a child...”

    “He’s youkai.  You cannot protect him forever.”

    “He’s a child,” she continued.  “And he thinks of me like a mother.  When I left the others, I left him, too.  It’s just going to take him a while to adjust to the new arrangements.  I’m not taking his side,” she said, cutting off his next argument.  “I’m just saying, cut him a little slack.”

    “You would ask this of me?”

    “Yes.  Just for a while, until he’s used to things...”

    He frowned just a little.  “Meaning me.”

    “You’re not the same as you were seven years ago, or even five years ago.  Once he realizes that, everything will be fine.”

    He stared at her for a moment, the crashing through the bushes growing ever louder.  “You are a difficult woman sometimes.  Very well.  For a brief time, I will... accommodate this request.”  He stepped back, her hand sliding off his arm.

    Kagome bit back the urge to reach out for him again, knowing it would only make the irritated demon more volatile despite his iron will.

    Inu-Yasha crashed through the last of the brush, the transformed Tetsusaiga slung over his shoulder.  “Shippou came screaming into the camp that you were being eaten alive,” he said, glaring from Kagome to Sesshoumaru.

    The youkai turned with a snort, leaving the situation in Kagome’s hands.  “He was wrong,” she said calmly.  “Sesshoumaru was just making sure I got breakfast.”  she held up her bitten plum.  “Someone should probably say something to him about not crashing unannounced into an area where people were sleeping.”

    Inu-Yasha looked from Kagome’s too-open face to his brother’s back.  “Feh.  Maybe some people should save the private stuff for a place where they won’t get burst in on.”  His brother’s low rumble of a growl made him change the subject quickly.  “You about ready to move out?” he asked Kagome.  “The other’s are packing up.”

    “Yeah,” Kagome said.  “We’ll be right there.”

    “There is no where he wouldn’t burst in,” Sesshoumaru said after Inu-Yasha left.

    “I guess it would depends on how much he wanted to live,” Kagome said.

    Sesshoumaru chuckled slightly and took her arm to lead her back through the brush to the camp.


    It only took a few days for Kagome to remember exactly what she had disliked about traveling in the past.  The dust on the road they followed was thick, the chances to really bathe few and far between, and five years apart had done nothing to improve Inu-Yasha's temperament.  They'd argued almost as fiercely the second day out as the first over how to locate the remaining shards.  The only improvement had been the discovery of a new way to end their fights, with a muttered 'baka' on her part and a 'feh' on his.  All in all, it was much better than Sesshoumaru threatening to separate them with his true form.

    She ran her hands over the tiny gap in the sphere again.  "I think it's just two missing," she said, trying to sense the absent shards.

    "Feh," Inu-Yasha snorted.

    "So we're done talking about it already?" Kagome asked tartly.

    "No telling where they are," he muttered.

    Kagome sighed, wishing it were closer to evening.  Their usual traveling pattern, with Inu-Yasha leading and Sesshoumaru following far enough back to guard their rear meant that she saw very little of her mate during the day.  The few humans bandits they'd met had been pitifully easy to defeat, requiring next to none of the demon lord's attention.  And it seemed that the lesser youkai were even more scarce.  "It wasn't this quiet last time.  It's almost eerie, how few demons we've run into."

    "More of 'em had Jewel Shards last time," Inu-Yasha shrugged.  "Or were lookin' for 'em."

    "It's still here.  I should be a walking demon magnet, Inu-Yasha, and that's not happening.  I don't understand it."

    He snorted again.  "You're also a walkin' notice that a taiyoukai is in the area.  The others are probably runnin' for cover."

    "We've encountered other youkai around Sesshoumaru before," she argued.  "Those hyouneko were after him, Kaijinbou…"

    "Kaijinbou was possessed, and the leopards had some unfinished business.  Most demons will stay away when a taiyoukai travels with his mate.  It's a good bet that one or the other of 'em will tear anything they come across to pieces."

    She smiled.  "So I'm that threatening now?"

    "Sesshoumaru's that threatening.  You're… incentive."

    "Nice," she muttered, turning back to her original thought.  I had three, and fused them.  Kikyo had one, and I got it, too.  Kohaku's…  Her heart clenched as it always did when she thought of Sango's doomed little brother.  Naraku took Kohaku's shard back and killed him, so we've got that.  Kouga's…

    "Kouga-kun!" she exclaimed.

    Inu-Yasha was already pulling the Tetsusaiga.  "Where?" he demanded, looking around, nose sniffing crazily.

    "No, you baka.  Kouga's shards.  Did you get them?"

    He snorted yet again.  "Yeah.  The yase ookami and I get together and whine all the time.  I ain't seen him since…"  He trailed off, muttering.

    "Since Kikyo…died?" she asked quietly.

    He turned back to her, glaring.  "Yeah.  I haven't seen your boyfriend Kouga since you killed Kikyo, okay?"  He stormed away from her.  "I'm scoutin' ahead.  Stay with Sango 'n' Miroku."

    She paused in the road until the others caught up.  "Problems?" Miroku asked.

    Kagome nodded.  "More of the usual.  I opened my mouth and took a big bite of my foot."

    Sango gave her arm a supportive squeeze.  "Ouch."

    "Yeah."


    Naraku is not your enemy.

    Kagome's brow furrowed at the voice, but she willed herself to remain asleep.  What?

    The creature Naraku is not what you must defeat.

    In her dream, Kagome turned to see Kikyo much closer than she had been before, bow still gripped in her hand.  The elder miko knelt, weapon placed carefully before her.  Kagome watched her for a moment, then knelt as well. 

    What do you mean?

    Naraku is merely a shell, a composite body for the evil to inhabit.  It is the evil inside Naraku you must destroy.

    Kagome blinked a moment.  We have to destroy just plain evil?  That's not possible.

    Not all evil.  We are not powerful-

    I told you, I'm not you!  I'm Kagome!  I live a different life, I made different choices.

    Kikyo seemed unruffled.  Call yourself what you like.  The truth is that we are of one spirit, together with others of power; Midoriko, Tsubaki, Kaede, my sisters all.  We all share in this.  But the fount, the source is running out.

    Is that why…?

    Why you are the first truly gifted miko in almost ten generations?  Yes.  There was a time of renewal.  But that is not my purpose here.  You must heal the heart of Naraku to defeat him.

    Kagome pondered that for a long moment.  His heart?  Kaede-baachan said Naraku was the thief Onigumo once.  Is that what you mean?  We have to heal Onigumo?

    Kikyo's steady gaze confirmed her thoughts.

    But Onigumo may as well be dead.  He was consumed by the youkai…

    The spectral miko rose, retrieving her bow.  And the dead have never come back to life? she asked, walking away.


    "Onigumo!" she shouted, sitting bolt upright.

    "You have an astonishing number of dream-companions," Sesshoumaru rumbled from behind her.

    She leaned back in his embrace, sighing in relief.  "Ick, no.  I wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole.  Kikyo said… She said… Kuso, I can't remember!"

    "And yet you remember some of the gems of my brother's vocabulary?"

    "I've heard you say it, too.  Who got it from whom?"  She let herself sink back into Sesshoumaru's warm presence.  "I should take you into the dream with me next time.  Maybe you'll remember something I don't."

    "You were speaking to the miko again?"

    "Yeah.  It was different.  She told me some important things.  Something about Onigumo and Naraku, and something about me…"

    "It was a better conversation than the last one, I take it."

    "Yes.  Much, for the most part.  I think."  She shook her head.  "It's mostly gone now."  She curled into his embrace.  "I'm so glad you're here.  I sleep so much better when you're near."  Her voice trailed off as she slipped back into sleep, missing the bemused expression on Sesshoumaru's face.



    They made their way over the next few days up into the mountains, alert for signs of the Yourouzoko, Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru both attuned to the presence of wolf-scent everywhere.  Shippou, only slightly less bothered by it, said the scent was covering almost everything in the area, making any kind of real tracking next to impossible.  And strangely enough, it gave the half-brothers something to bond over.

    “Oh, yeah...” Inu-Yasha was boasting, drawing out a series of tales of his adventures against the wolf-youkai.  “Well, he kidnapped Kagome to find him some shards, then hauled her out into some crap battle with the Gokurakuchou.  And he fuckin’ forgets she’s out there.  Bakayaro.”

    Sesshoumaru was about to reply when a wolf-howl rang out from the forest, echoing and repeating around the mountain.  Then the howls resolved into words as running footsteps approached.

    “Nee-chan!  Nee-chan!”  Two dusty, panting wolf-youkai burst into the party, each dropping to a knee at Kagome’s feet.  “Welcome back, Sister Kagome.”

    “Hagaku, Ginta!  What are you two doing-”

    Kagome’s question was cut off by another shout.  “Oi, Kagome!”

    Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes.  “Here we go.  Now you’ll see.”

    The wolf prince blazed between the dog brothers, skidding to a stop next to Kagome and immediately taking her hand.  “Hey, Kagome.  Long time.  You finally gonna come be my woman?”  Twin growls from the dog-demons phased him not at all.

    “Kouga-kun, that’s not why I’m here,” she replied, trying to free her hand, then giving up.  “I need to talk to you about-”

    “Remove your hand or I will do it for you,” Sesshoumaru growled.

    “Ooooh,” Kouga scoffed.  “More inu-koro.  What did you do, Dog-Turd, go out and find a relative to fight for you?  Get it through your skull, Kagome’s mine.”

    “No, Wolf-Turd,” Sesshoumaru replied, a coldly dangerous smile coming to light.  “She is mine.  Dokkasou.”  His hand, wreathed in poisonous green, reached for Kouga, and the wolf demon skipped several steps back.

    Inu-Yasha snickered.  “Smart move, yase ookami.  I don’t think I could cut your arm off fast enough to keep that stuff from killing you.”

    “Kouga-kun,” Kagome tried again, “I need to talk to you.  The-”

    Kouga’s nose had been sniffing madly, and he finally burst out, “Gods, Kagome, you reek of inuyoukai.  You really are his.  How could you do this to me?”

    This was not an interruption she had planned on.  “To you?  Kouga-kun, I never said I was your woman.  You said it.  I told you I wasn’t interested.  And you had already promised Ayame to marry her.”

    “I told you I didn’t remember saying that!”

    “Well, she remembered.”  Kagome shook herself, trying to get a grip on her anger.  “This is stupid.  Kouga-kun, I need the shards.”

    He shook his head, backing further away.  “No.  Not yet.  I still need more time to consolidate my power-”

    It was Kagome’s turn to interrupt.  “I’m not asking you, Kouga-kun, I’m telling you.  I need those shards, now.  If you’re not strong enough to lead by now, then the shards aren’t going to help you.”

    Kouga folded his arms across his chest, scowling.  “I’m not giving them up.  You’re going to have to get Inu-koro to take them if you want them.”

    She sighed unhappily.  “This isn’t how I wanted to do things, Kouga-kun,” she said quietly.  Then she turned, not to Inu-Yasha, but to Sesshoumaru.  “The shards are in his legs, just below his knees,” she said calmly, then moved out of the way to stand near Miroku and Sango.

    Miroku stared at her in disbelief.  “You just set Sesshoumaru on Kouga.  The wolf will be killed!”

    “I don’t think Sesshoumaru will go that far,” Kagome said softly.  “I didn’t want to.  But I have to have those shards, and I’m tired of playing Kouga-kun’s games.”

    Sesshoumaru raised his right hand, first two fingers extended.  “You should have given them to her,” he informed the wolf.  He whipped his fingers toward the other youkai, a thin streak of toxic green light extending from his hand.  The whip licked at Kouga’s leg before he could move, tearing open flesh and spilling one shard into the dirt.  Wounded, he was easy prey for the second attack, and soon Kagome had both shards in her hands.  “Thank you,” she told Sesshoumaru quietly as he handed them to her.  “Kouga-kun,” she began, turning to the fallen prince.

    “Just go away, Kagome.”

    “Kouga-kun, please.  I tried to ask-”

    “Just go!” he shouted, and head ducked, she did, the rest of the party following quietly.


    They had been staring at her, watching her for hours, Kagome realized.  Miroku and Sango were horrified, she assumed, and Inu-Yasha smirked with the amusement of finally seeing Kouga down in the dirt again, where she was sure he thought the wolf deserved to be.  Shippou seemed to be concerned only for her, worried because she was upset.  And Sesshoumaru.  Well, Kagome admitted to herself, even she was never sure half the time what Sesshoumaru was thinking.

    Sesshoumaru had moved off ahead, keeping the remainder of the yourouzoko out of their way, and Sango and Miroku had decided to cover the rear, setting off on Kirara not long after he had vanished.  It left Kagome alone with Inu-Yasha for the first time in days, with only Shippou as a chaperone, the kit popping in and out of the forest on some schedule of his own.

    They walked in silence for what seemed like a long time before the strain finally got to Inu-Yasha.  "Oi, what's eatin' you?" he asked gruffly.

    She sighed.  "I imagine I look very ugly right now."  She remembered the last time she'd had that thought, when she had first truly wished Kikyo dead.  It had been horrifying, to know she had that much hate somewhere in her.

    He peered at her carefully.  "Eh, no more than normal."  He backpedaled at her hurt look.  "No, I mean, you look like you normally do.  Except all sad."

    "Well, I am sad right now."

    "Why?" he asked.  "We got the shards.  You can fix the Jewel.  We're half done."

    "Did you see what happened back there at all, Inu-Yasha?  I could have killed Kouga-kun."

    "Feh.  Sesshoumaru could've killed Kouga.  You didn't have anything to do with it."

    She shook her head.  "But I did.  I told Sesshoumaru to get me the shards, and he did.  If I had told him to kill Kouga-kun….  You saw how Sango and Miroku looked at me.  What does it mean that I could do something like that?"

    "Something like what?" he asked.  "Like what you had to do?  Kouga should've given up those shards a long time ago.  He was just weak."

    "You don't get it.  If I'd told Sesshoumaru to kill Kouga-kun, he would have.  Who am I to wield that kind of power?"

    "No, you're the one who doesn't get it.  Sesshoumaru'd have killed Kouga if he felt like it, no matter what you said.  Hell, you gave him an excuse to hurt the wimpy wolf without killing him.  Probably saved Kouga's stinky hide with that one.  You don't control Sesshoumaru, Kagome.  Don't go makin' the mistake of thinking you do."  Inu-Yasha snorted.  "He could just have easily told you to get them yourself, except he probably didn't like bein' insulted anymore than I ever did."

    "But Miroku and Sango, the way the were staring at me…"

    "Probably wonderin' what you're gonna do with the Jewel."

    She shook her head.  "It felt like something else, something more…"

    He sighed in exasperation.  "Kagome, you can't live for five years in the world of the taiyoukai and not expect it to change you.  Maybe you did do something that bugged them.  I don't know.  None of us are who we were anymore.  That's just the way it is."

    "The way it is, huh?"  She watched Shippou pop out of the tree-line a few steps ahead of him, paws filled with rocks for a sling he was making.  Little Shippou, who was learning to appreciate a big boy's toys.

    "Yeah.  The way it is.  Oi, watch where you're flingin' those, brat!" he shouted, batting a stone out of its path to his face.

    "Sorry," Shippou called, finding a new target.

    Kagome smiled, feeling that for the first time, Inu-Yasha had really understood her.


    “‘The way it is’ my ass,” Kagome muttered from where she stood under the eaves.

    “I would dearly love to know how you came to such a bizarre conclusion,” Sesshoumaru murmured in her ear.

    They stood together out of the pouring rain, watching unobtrusively as Miroku wound up his infamous ‘house plagued by evil spirits’ routine.

    “Inu-Yasha and I were talking, that day we found Kouga-kun.  He said that people change, and that’s the way it is.  Except Miroku doesn’t seem to have changed a bit.  This was his favorite way to ‘acquire’ lodging seven years ago, and he’s still at it.”  She folded her arms and grimaced as wet silk stuck to her skin.  “Gods, I want to get out of these clothes.”

    Sesshoumaru’s hot breath blew past her neck.  “An agreeable proposition.”

    “What about no distractions?” she asked pertly.  Truthfully, if Miroku’s usual tactic worked, she wasn’t sure how long she was going to last without cornering Sesshoumaru herself.  It seemed like ages since they’d...  She shook her head, filing the thoughts away for later.  When they were inside, with some privacy more substantial than a few bushes.

    “I find the lack of distraction consumes my mind more everyday.  This entire undertaking is beginning to seem like a very bad idea.”

    “Well, give Miroku a couple more minutes, and we should...  Yep.  There he goes.”

    Across the muddy road, the houshi shook his shakujou threateningly at the roof of the house, and they watched silently as something slithered against the tiles.  It shimmered, almost, as it moved, implying some sort of camouflage ability.  Staff still outstretched, Miroku reached into his robes and withdrew and ornate ofuda, bowing his head over it a moment, then hurling at the center of the shimmery mass.

    “Houriki!” he cried, and the shimmering mass leapt from the roof, changing into a demon of some large reptile background, certainly larger than those they had seen in the past.  It flew toward the monk, claws extended and mouth hissing, only to be split in half as Sango’s Hiraikotsu flashed in the air between them.

    “This is where the show really gets good,” Kagome murmured, watching as the trembling chief approached his freshly-exorcised house.

    “Oh, thank you, houshi-sama!  I had no idea such a malevolent spirit was invading my home.  How can I thank you?”

    Miroku waved him off magnanimously.  “Think nothing of it.  I am but a simple monk.  But please, be careful if the female appears.  By morning, she should move on, but these things can take-”

    “Fe-fe-female?” the chief stammered.  “Where?”

    Miroku pulled a contemplative face.  “Hard to say.  Much more devious, the females.  But, as I said, she should move on in the morning.  Nothing to worry about-”

    “Houshi-sama, will you be kind enough to accept my hospitality for the night?  It is the least I can do, after  you’ve been so kind...”

    Kagome tried not to laugh out loud.  Miroku was just too good at this.

    “If it were just myself, good sir, I would not hesitate.  But the members of my traveling party have plans to eliminate a dangerous youkai, and I hate to keep them waiting-”

    The chief seemed thrilled.  “Of course, they are welcome as well.  Any who fight the truly evil youkai should be welcomed...”

    He was babbling on, but Kagome tuned him out.  “Just don’t growl or offer him an example of true evil, and we’ll be fine.”  She led the way out into the rain.  “Houshi-sama,” she called, pulling Sesshoumaru after her.  “There’s no sign of her on the east side of town.”

    “Ah, well.  Come meet the village chief.”  He turned back to the trembling man.  “A former miko, and one of my companions.  Her accuracy with the bow is uncanny.  And her husband, an experienced youkai-fighter.”

    Sesshoumaru nodded stiffly.  After a great deal of convincing, he had altered his human appearance to its most banal, the markings on his face fading to resemble old battle scars.  The weather more than anything had convinced him.  Kagome was wet and chilled, and he wanted her indoors and dried immediately.


    A servant led them down the covered walkway to a wing of rooms across the main building from the rest of the house.  The rain had brought an early nightfall with it, and she quickly lit oil lamps as well as braziers.  “Please be comfortable, honored guests.  My master has arranged for dinner to be sent quickly, and the bath is at your disposal.”  She bowed and left, sliding the fusama closed behind her.

    Kagome caught Sango’s eye.  “Bath?”

    “Oh, yes please.”  They quickly dug through their belongings, turning up dry clothing, and with assurances to their respective men that they wouldn’t be gone long, vanished.

    Sesshoumaru blinked at Kagome’s sudden disappearance.  “That was not what I had anticipated.”

    Inu-Yasha plopped into a corner, legs drawn up and arms folded protectively around his beloved Tetsusaiga.  “Believe me, that’s perfectly normal.  Someone wake me when the food gets here.”  He dropped his head forward, dozing off almost immediately.

    Sesshoumaru looked over to Miroku.  “Perfectly normal?”

    The houshi nodded, a little crestfallen.  “Perfectly.”


    It was a suite of three rooms they’d been given, and between the houshi and the two youkai, they had quickly sorted themselves out, each of the couples ensconced in an end room, with the center left as a kind of public space that would serve for Inu-Yasha and Shippou to sleep as well.

    The maid had just finished arranging the futon to Sesshoumaru’s satisfaction when Kagome returned, wrapped in a yukata and toweling her still-damp hair.  “I keep thinking the thing I miss most from my mother’s home, not counting people, is a big thick towel.”

    “Indeed.”  His voice was cool, and she picked up on it immediately.

    “What’s bothering you?” she asked, dropping the towel and moving closer to him.

    “Me?  I, Sesshoumaru, am bothered by nothing.”  He moved to walk past her, but she caught him arm.  She could never, with all her strength, have held him there if somewhere deep inside, he didn’t want to stay.

    “Yes, there is.  Before, you couldn’t wait to get me alone, and right now, it’s like you can’t stand to be in the same room with me.  What changed?”  She watched him as he stared at her, unwilling to speak, but not leaving either.  “What happened when I went to bathe?”

    “Nothing.  You and the taiji-ya bathed.  The houshi and I stared at the walls.”

    You and the taiji-ya...  The light was beginning to dawn.  “I think I see.  Sesshoumaru, I went to the bath with Sango because I wasn’t sure if that whole mess with Kouga-kun had made her... I don’t know.  Scared of me, I guess.  I was a little scared of myself, for a while.  I just needed to know she and I were still friends.”

    “And are you?”

    “Yes.  We had a good talk, and everything’s fine.  But now, I think you’re the one who needs some attention.”  She stretched up on her toes.  If he would just bend a little, give in the tiniest bit....

    There was a rap at the fusama, and Kagome nearly growled in frustration.  “Hai?”

    “The food’s here, Kagome-chan,” Sango said quietly.

    An idea struck Kagome, one that seemed better the more she quickly turned it over in her head.  “Arigato, Sango-chan.  I’ll be right there.”  She turned back to Sesshoumaru.  “Don’t move,” she pleaded.  “I’ll be as quick as I can.”  She scurried over to the fusama and slipped through into the other room.

    Sesshoumaru stared at the door, puzzled.  Clearly, her intention had been to kiss him, at least until the taiji-ya had unintentionally interrupted.  And he could hear her whispering softly, deliberately quiet enough that between the rain on the roof and the shoji between the rooms, he couldn’t quite hear what she was saying.  Sango was clearly in favor of Kagome’s plan, however, since she wished her ‘good luck.’  Then he heard her shuffling back over to the fusama.  Her outline knelt, placing something on the floor.  Then she opened the door carefully, entered, brought in a tray after her, and closed the door.  She lifted the tray and stood gracefully, shuffling toward him in the manner of a lady raised in a noble household.  She knelt again in front of him, arranging the tray just so, then collecting cushions and setting them in front of the makeshift table.  She knelt to the side and held up a small bottle, eyes downcast.  “Would Sesshoumaru-san like sake?”

    He remembered a night years ago, when she had asked that same question, unable to find any other way to express the feelings he had not wanted to accept.  The same night he had discovered that, rather than being weak, his father might well have been brilliant.  He took the bottle from her hand, replacing it on the tray and lifting her to her feet.  “I don’t want sake now,” he said, steering her backward toward the futons.  “There are... other things, that are much more important.”

    She smiled, caressing the vivid markings that had reappeared on his face.  “Hai, Sesshoumaru-san.”


    Sesshoumaru slid the fusama closed quietly, careful to avoid waking the occupants of either room.  He crossed the tatami silently, then eased out the main door, scanning the garden area.  The servant who had guided them last night had pointed out the corner used as a privy area, and he quickly located it now, making use of the facilities and returning to the suite.

    The shoji was open, Inu-Yasha awake and sitting with his back against the narrow edge of the door.  "Couldn't find a tree you liked?" he asked, yawning.

    Sesshoumaru snorted.  "Surely the humans expect their guests to use the appropriate facilities.  Only something truly evil would…"  It would be so easy, a tiny voice in his mind whispered.  All those humans, sleeping…  Just like Kagome was sleeping, sprawled in exhausted abandon across their futon.  No.  No senseless killing.  Not when there were more pressing matters.

    "She sleeping?" Inu-Yasha asked, head jerking back toward the room where Kagome lay.

    "Unless you woke her," Sesshoumaru replied, surfacing from his own thoughts.

    "Not likely.  She sleeps heavy."  He watched his brother's look grow dark.  "Look, everything else aside, I spent two years watching her.  There's things I know, and it's not any damned insult to you that I do.  Live with it."

    "Like you do?" Sesshoumaru sneered.

    The barb failed to incite Inu-Yasha's anger, however.  "Yeah.  She okay?"

    "Why?"

    Inu-Yasha shifted.  "That thing with the yase ookami bothered her. Thought she was gettin' all dangerous or somethin'.  She doesn't need it buggin' her when we face Naraku."

    "She mentioned it," Sesshoumaru allowed, leaning against the other side of the doorway.  "It's not troubling her now."

    Inu-Yasha snorted.  "Feh, like much would be troubling her now, sound aslee-"

    There was a blood-curdling shriek, and for an instant, both inuyoukai froze, the sound piercing through their heads like a spike.  Then they both moved as one toward the source.  But before they could reach it, the fusama clattered open and Kagome burst into the room, crying and throwing herself at Sesshoumaru. He caught her easily and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

    "Kagome, nan desu ka?  What's wrong?"

    She was clinging to him, weeping, almost incoherent.  "Hi-hi-himeko…crying.  Couldn't…find her, get to her.  I couldn't…couldn't help her."

    Something red flashed in his vision, and it took Sesshoumaru a moment to realize it wasn't the beast raging to come out, but Inu-Yasha's haori, held at arm's length, his brother's face firmly turned away from them.  And the weeping Kagome in his arms was completely exposed.  He accepted the jacket and wrapped it around Kagome's shoulders.  "Tell me what you saw," he said quietly.

    She took a deep breath, and Inu-Yasha moved away, hearing movement in the other room.

    "Inu-Yasha," Miroku called.  "We heard a cry.  Is everything well?"

    "Aa," he replied.  "Daijoubu.  Sesshoumaru's got her.  Nightmare."

    "Ahh.  I see.  Thank you."  He heard Miroku speaking quietly with Sango and tuned them out.

    There wasn't much more Kagome could tell him.  It was simply an overwhelming feeling that something was wrong with her baby.  Whether there was really something wrong or simply maternal anxiety caused by the separation, they could not determine.

    Finally, Sesshoumaru sighed.  "I will go back and check.  Will that be sufficient?"

    She nodded, sniffling a little.  "Yes.  I'll be dressed in five minutes, and we can go-"

    "Kagome," he interrupted, stepping back a little so he could see her face, "I can go more swiftly alone."

    "But Himeko…"

    "I will tell Himeko and the others that you are safe and well, and will return to them soon.  The time to go and return with you would be more than we can afford to take."  He looked out at the horizon, the sun just beginning to rise.  "I will catch up to you after nightfall tomorrow.  Go dress.  I need to speak to Inu-Yasha."  He waited until she had returned to the other room and closed the fusama before turning to his brother.  "I don't need to tell you what will happen if she's injured while I am away."

    "I can't believe you're givin' in on this.  It's just nerves," Inu-Yasha sniffed.

    Sesshoumaru walked outside, and Inu-Yasha followed.  "She has been having dreams of some significance.  The miko-"

    "Kikyo?" Inu-Yasha asked quickly.

    His brother glared at the interruption.  "You are familiar with another miko who would choose to trouble my mate in her sleep?"

    "What does Kikyo want?" Inu-Yasha demanded.

    "I would not know.  She does not speak to me.  But she has apparently given some information to Kagome regarding Naraku.  If there is some danger to the children, I do not intend to ignore this warning."

    "And if there is something wrong?"

    "I will deal with it and return.  Do not attempt to face Naraku without me."

    Inu-Yasha snorted.  "I did all right without you last time."

    "Obviously not as well as you think.  I mean it, Inu-Yasha.  Wait for my return so we can formulate some kind of plan."

    There were hurried footsteps inside, and Inu-Yasha turned away.  "Feh."

    Sesshoumaru turned back to the house, leaning on the railing of the engawa as Kagome approached.  "What more would you wish me to tell the children?"

    She was on eye-level with him, standing on the porch as he stood on the ground below, and she liked the feeling of equality it gave her.  She cupped his face in her hands, kissing first one striped cheek then the other.  "For Hime-chan and Inu-chan," she said quietly, then kissed the crescent moon on his brow.  "And for Rin-chan.  Hahaue will be home soon."  Then she kissed his lips in benediction.  "Come back to me safely," she whispered.

    "I will."  He took her hands, squeezing them gently, then set them on the railing, curling her fingers around the edge to grip it.  "Do not cry," he instructed, backing away.

    She watched as he walked over to Inu-Yasha.  "You know what to do, then?"

    "Yeah.  Ja ne."

    "Be careful, puppy."

    Inu-Yasha started, speechless as Sesshoumaru rose effortlessly rose into the air.  "You too, aniue," he murmured finally.


    He was hardly out of sight when a servant appeared from the main house, shuffling along the walkway.  She stopped short when she saw them, and Kagome realized that they must present a very strange picture, up at the crack of dawn, and her wearing just her nightclothes.

    "Miko-sama…" the servant began, uncertain if she had interrupted something.

    "My husband spotted the female," Kagome said quickly.  "He is giving chase, so we will have to catch up to him later today."

    "Hai, miko-sama," the servant agreed, clearly grateful that whatever was going on, she could claim ignorance.  "Breakfast will be ready soon.  The houshi-sama…"

    "He's awake," Inu-Yasha said.  "Just bring whatever's quickest.  We'll have to get moving soon."

    The servant bowed and hurried away, and Inu-Yasha bounded up the stairs.  "What're you waiting for?" he asked Kagome, who was staring at the sky again.  "Naraku's still out there."

    She didn't want to move from this place Sesshoumaru had last touched her, but time was passing.  "Hai," she said, pushing away reluctantly.  "Ikidemasu.  No sense wasting time."



    Jaken, like any good lackey, was waiting at the main gate when Sesshoumaru arrived, giant paws touching down gently in the courtyard.

    "Sesshoumaru-sama!" the toad shouted, startled by his master's sudden arrival.

    Sesshoumaru returned to his smaller form, striding toward the main door.  "Jaken," he called as the youkai struggled to catch up.  "Where are the children?"

    "Asleep, I would assume, Sesshoumaru-sama.  They were sent to bed before I went out to the gat- Aaaiiii!  Wait for me!"  He scrambled after Sesshoumaru as the taiyoukai lengthened his stride.

    "Has all been quiet?"

    "H-hai, Sesshoumaru-sama.  The children have missed you, but-  Oooff!"  He ran straight into the back of Sesshoumaru's legs.  "Sumimasen, Sesshoumaru-sama," he babbled.  "Gomen nasai, I didn't see you had-"

    "Shut up!" Sesshoumaru snapped.

    Jaken did, immediately, and heard Rin's soft voice speaking to one of the children.  "That girl," he muttered.  "Should be asleep like a grateful child, but no…"

    "Go back out to the gate, Jaken," Sesshoumaru ordered, and the toad waddled off, muttering to himself.

    Sesshoumaru moved silently down the hall and cracked the fusama open, looking inside.

    Rin had Himeko cradled in her arms and was singing, Sesshou-inu curled up in a ball on the floor, deeply asleep.
"In the mountains, in the forest,
In the wind, in a Dream.
Where are you, Sesshoumaru-sama?
With an ally like Kagome-sama.
I will wait alone until you come.
Sesshoumaru-sama, please return."

    He slid the fusama open.  "Rin."

    Her face lit up, and she jumped to her feet, running over to him.  Once he took the sleeping baby from her, she threw her arms around his waist.  “Sesshoumaru-sama!"

    "Shh, Rin.  Don't wake the children."

    She nodded seriously.  "Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama," she whispered.

    He carried the baby over to her cradle and tucked her in, careful to pass on the kiss Kagome had sent.  "Hahaue will come home soon, little one."  The baby settled, he picked Sesshou-inu up from the floor, the boy flopping bonelessly, deeply asleep.  Sesshoumaru carried him into the next room and tucked him into his futon, giving him the same kiss and assurance as well.  The two youngest safely asleep, he slipped out, gesturing for Rin to follow.

    They made their way to the study, and Rin immediately stoked the fire and set water heating for tea before kneeling across the table from Sesshoumaru.

    "Rin, Jaken said everything has been quiet here.  Is that true?"

    She nodded.  "Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama.  Very quiet.  Demo…"

    "What, Rin?"

    She shook her head.  "I don't know how to explain.  But Hime-chan was crying very early this morning, before sunrise.  She wasn't hungry or dirty.  But she cried and cried, like something had scared her.  Can babies have bad dreams, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

    He watched as she prepared the tea.  "It seems possible.  Kagome-sama woke with a nightmare about Himeko-chan this morning, as well."

    "Maybe they were dreaming about each other," Rin suggested.

    "Perhaps," Sesshoumaru said, sipping his tea.  Rin may have been quick and intelligent, but her cooking efforts still needed work.  Or perhaps she liked her tea very strong.  He finished the cup for the sake of good manners.  "Rin, come here."

    She rose and moved around the side of the table, and Sesshoumaru realized the she was taller than him as he knelt.  He stood, and her trusting face followed him as he rose.

    "You've come further than I ever expected."  He leaned over and kissed her forehead.  "Kagome and I will be finished with this matter soon.  Be strong for the others, little Rin."

    The young woman looked up at her lord, master, father and savior.  "Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama.  Always."

    "Go to bed now.  I may not see you before I leave, but I will be thinking of you.  Sleep well."

    She bowed and slipped out of the room, and after a moment, Sesshoumaru left as well, returning to his empty room and cold futon, and somehow, the life he had always lived was emptier by far than he had ever imagined.


    There was a warm little body in the futon with him when he woke, a reminder that life was not as bleak as it seemed.  Bleary golden eyes blinked, staring up at him, unsurprised by his presence.

    “Sesshou-inu, what are you doing in here?”

    The boy scratched the side of his head with quick flicks of one hand, silvery hair flying in a cloud.  “I smelled you when I woke up, but I couldn’t smell Mama.  Is she here?”

    Sesshoumaru smiled down at the pup.  The expression felt much more natural now.  “No.  Mama is helping Inu-Yasha-jisama.  I must return to her soon.”

    The boy’s face fell.  “Oh.  I miss Mama.  I miss you, too, but you’re here.”

    Sesshoumaru slid out of the futon, donning his customary kimono and armor, then looked at his son.  “Sesshou-inu, bring me the Tenseiga.”

    The boy was out of bed in a flash, racing across the room to the small shrine where Sesshoumaru kept his father’s fang.  He bowed and reverently lifted the sword from where it rested, carrying it carefully across both hands to Sesshoumaru.  The taiyoukai took it with equal solemnity and slid it into place at his waist.  He would collect Toukijin later; the sword too dangerous to keep in a place he would let his guard down even a little.  One day, he would hand the Tenseiga down to Sesshou-inu, knowing it would please Kagome that the boy would learn the value of compassion.  Toukijin would be another matter, however.  The boy’s pure spirit would be tainted by its evil, but destroying it could release its evil youki on the world.  No, Toukijin would be his responsibility for the rest of his life, the price he would pay for sinking so low as to consort with Naraku.  He wondered briefly what Inu-Yasha would choose to do with the Tetsusaiga in the end.  Certainly, the hanyou was young enough that children could still be in his future.  Or he might choose to leave the Steel-Cleaving Fang to Sesshou-inu, though that was not a course of action Sesshoumaru was willing to encourage.  The thought of both Fangs in one person’s hands was disturbing to say the least.  He reached down and ruffled his son’s hair.

    “Back to your bed, pup.  I must leave, and I do not wish you to wander the house this early.”

    “Hai, Otou-sama.”  He hugged Sesshoumaru around the legs, then ran out of the room, and another fusama opened and closed down the hall.

    Retrieving Toukijin from its locked cabinet outside the bedroom, Sesshoumaru made his way outside, into the chilly pre-dawn morning.  Jaken hurried from his post at the gate to meet his master.

    “Ohayo gozaimasu, Sesshoumaru-sama.  What can this-”

    Sesshoumaru cut him off.  “Jaken, allow no one, no one, entrance until I return.  The children are to stay in the compound, preferably in the garden or indoors.  Should anyone gain entrance, I will revive your dead body myself so I can kill you personally.  Do you understand?”

    “H-hai, Sesshoumaru-sama.  No one shall pass.”

    Sesshoumaru nodded stiffly, and Jaken moved back as he stretched into his true form, the snowy dog racing away into the sky.



    Well after nightfall he found the shambles of the party's camp, reeking of blood and scattered with the corpses of lesser youkai.  The taiji-ya and houshi were huddled over a low fire, the kitsune and neko-youkai cuddled close as well, and Inu-Yasha's blood floated on the air to tweak his nose.  But of Kagome, there was no sight, smell or sound.

    Sesshoumaru touched down on human feet, eyes glowing a baleful red.  The humans looked up, faces devastated, and the two small youkai shrank back trying to escape the angry energy radiating from him.  "What happened here?" he demanded, voice barely above a growl.

    "Naraku's youkai…" the houshi started but Sesshoumaru waved him off, recognizing the particular stench in the air.

    "They took Kagome," Sango supplied in a dead voice.

    "Where is Inu-Yasha?"  Sesshoumaru fought to keep the beast back enough to speak to the humans.  You may yet get your wish, Toukijin, to bathe in my worthless brother's blood.

    Sango rose slowly, revealing flashes of bandage through the rents in her battle suit.  "This way.  We can't move him, and he wouldn't let us stay near him.  It's…  He's dying, Sesshoumaru-san.  There's nothing we can do."

    She led him to the edge of a copse of trees, and Sesshoumaru picked up even stronger the scent of his brother's blood, and it whispered to him that Inu-Yasha had done something truly foolish during the battle, something that smacked of desperation.

    The hanyou was propped against a trunk, arms lying limp across his outstretched legs, eyes closed.  If not for his shallow breathing and swiveling ears, Sesshoumaru might have thought him dead at first glance.

    "Told you to leave me alone," he said, voice rusty and strained.

    "Inu-Yasha," Sesshoumaru said quietly, and his eyes opened, bloodshot around the golden irises.  Sesshoumaru could see too, as Inu-Yasha's head came up slowly, a violet streak burned across each cheek.  His youkai markings, though clearly the beast was not in control.  "What happened?"

    "Fuckin' Naraku, fuckin' youkai."  He coughed and gagged, spat something into the leaf litter that Sesshoumaru refused to look at.  He couldn't ignore the fresh blood on his brother's lips, however.

    "How bad?"

    "Ribs broke, head cracked.  Back's fucked.  Hard to stay awake."  He smirked, though it could have been a grimace.  "You won't have to lift a finger."

    Sesshoumaru stared down at him, trying to place what was wrong, aside from his brother's obviously broken condition.  Blood stained his hands to the cuffs of his ivory sleeves…  "Inu-Yasha, where is your haori?"  The Inutaisho had bargained long and hard for that cloth, a constant supply for his beloved hanyou son.

    "Kagome," he gritted out.  "Was getting' cold.  Thought it was safe enough…"  He coughed again, and the fit left him without enough breath to speak.

    "The youkai came from nowhere," Sango said quietly, picking up the tale.  "There must have been a barrier.  They had scooped up Kagome before we even knew what was happening.  Inu-Yasha… He couldn't risk the Kaze no Kizu, not with them using her as a shield.  He… He…"

    "He abandoned it in favor of his true form," Sesshoumaru finished.

    Sango nodded.  "Hai.  The last one, the one that had Kagome, threw him into the tree."

    The katana was back with his brother now, Sesshoumaru saw.  But even it had not been able to undo all the beast in Inu-Yasha had done.  The stripes seemed burned into his cheeks, his claws long and wicked.  "I 'member now," he murmured.

    "What do you remember, Inu-Yasha?" Sesshoumaru asked.

    "What I did, like this.  Wanted to kill, wanted to…"  The sentence faded with his strength.

    "I know," Sesshoumaru said quietly.  "You are fortunate today, Inu-Yasha."  He waited until they were both looking at him, waiting for his pronouncement.  "I have more need for you to live than wish to see you die."  He reached for the carefully wrapped hilt of the Tenseiga.  "Remove the Tetsusaiga for a moment, Sango-san."

    She hesitated.  "Sesshoumaru-san, without it…"

    "I am aware.  However, the swords will not work in opposition.  Quickly.  We still need to move camp tonight."

    Sango slipped in next to Inu-Yasha.  "I'm sorry.  I promise I will return it at once."  She stepped back, Inu-Yasha's sword tight in her hands and watched. 

    Sesshoumaru slid his sword free, the silvery blade lethally beautiful in the moonlight, and yet it could not harm.  He stared down at his brother, eyes narrowing, picking out the hideous demons hovering just off his brother's body, waiting anxiously for his life to flee.  He swept the blade through them and over Inu-Yasha's form, scattering the youkai in a puff of preternatural smoke.

    Inu-Yasha watched the katana sweep within an inch of his nose, and wondered if that was Sesshoumaru's way of amusing himself.  Certainly, he'd heard enough times that Tenseiga could only heal, had seen it for himself, but there was no comfort in that with the blade whistling past his face.  Then the pain faded, the bleeding stopped, and his head cleared of the lingering cobwebs.  He pushed his way to his feet, willful stubbornness wining out over caution, and swayed unsteadily.  A hand grabbed his arm, and he realized with a start that Sesshoumaru was holding him up as he found his balance.  Once stable, he accepted the Tetsusaiga back from Sango, muttering a quick "Thanks."

    "They're still there," she said, indicating his face.

    "Yeah.  They're not gonna go away.  I… I pushed it too far, I guess."  He picked his way through the trees, nose wrinkling at the stench in the air.

    The others at the fire started as he pushed his way through.  "Aaaiii!"  Shippou shouted.  "Inu-Yasha's come back as a mononoke!"

    "Don't I wish, you pest," he replied without fire.  "Hey, bouzu.  We're moving.  Place stinks.  And we're gettin' Kagome back from that bakayaro Naraku first thing."

    Miroku stood, kicking wet earth over the smoldering fire.  "When do we leave?" he asked.

    "Now," Sesshoumaru said, striding away through the litter of corpses.



    Kagome walked the dark hallways on autopilot, making her way in laps around the central chambers of the castle.  Typical Naraku, she thought.  Hole up in some damned rotting compound, slap a barrier over it…  How am I gonna let Sesshoumaru know where I am?  He must be back by now.  Please, Sesshoumaru, don't kill Inu-Yasha.  He did everything he could…  She'd seen the blazing eyes and wicked claws and wanted to weep.  Each time Inu-Yasha let the demon out, he risked never being able to restrain it again, with or without the Fang.  I can't let Naraku use me, she thought, pushing away things she couldn't change.  So I either make myself useless or get away.  I'm useless if I'm dead, but then, I'm dead, too, so that defeats the purpose.  That leaves getting away, which doesn't appear too likely, but you never know.  She pulled the red haori closer around her body, closing out the chill in the air.  She turned another corner and bumped into something, looking up in horror to find herself face to face with Naraku.

    He stared down at her impassively.  "You are the other miko, the one Kikyo despised."

    She bit back the instinct to instruct him in the pronunciation of her name.  He could just do without, damn it.  "Well, I wasn't too fond of her then, either.  Excuse me."  She moved to step around him, but he reached out, grabbing her arm.

    "You had the Jewel, Miko.  I remember that as well.  Where is it now?"

    He couldn't sense it?  Kagome worked hard to keep the joy from her face.  "I don't know," she said neutrally.  "I gave up the search five years ago."

    "Yes.  You disappeared five years ago, vanished from sight.  And now that I have returned, you have as well.  Do you find that interesting?"

    She kept her expression bland.  "I certainly didn't vanish from my point of view.  I know where I was.  Where were you?"

    "Many places, Miko.  And Inu-Yasha appeared out of the west with you and his half-brother.  Are you working your way up the family tree, Miko?"

    "I don't know what you mean," she insisted, pulling against his grip, but he only pulled her closer.

    "One of them has had you, Miko.  That much, I can smell.  But which one?  Who can I use you against?"  He stared at her through narrowed eyes.  "The elder, I would think.  You seem very much his type.  He loves power, after all."

    "Naraku no baka," she sneered.  "Sesshoumaru-sama hates human.  What rock have you been under?"

    He glared at her again, grip shifting to finger the cloth of the haori.  "Of course.  You would never betray that kono yaro hanyou.  His loyalty, on the other hand…"  He appeared to consider for several moment.  "Yes, I think that should do nicely.  My thanks, Miko-sama.  You have just made this very interesting."  He pushed her away and stalked off.

    Kagome leaned against the wall, hoping things hadn't just gone from bad to worse.


    Time to come out of the cage, imouto-san.

    Kagome stirred in her sleep and woke.  It was difficult enough to sleep without Sesshoumaru to curl up against, but the cold and sense of jaki hovering around Naraku made his castle extremely unpleasant.

    There is something you must see.

    Kagome blinked.  "Hey, I'm awake here," she said, surprised.

    Softly, please, Kikyo's voice said in her head.  There are things that can be alerted to my presence.  Better if you speak to me only in here.

    Is Sesshoumaru back with the others?  Are they coming yet?

    I don't know.  Kikyo sounded almost regretful.  I can no longer sense them.  Something has happened you must see.

    Kagome stood, pulling the haori close.  It was colder now then when she'd fallen into her fitful sleep.  What time is it?

    Near dawn, Kikyo replied.  To the right, then left at the next corridor.

    Where are you taking me?

    As I said, something has happened.  Once you see, you'll understand.  The door on the right.  Quietly.  Naraku is not far, and he would kill you if he knew you discovered this.

    She pushed open the fusama and slipped inside, closing it behind her.  She stepped further into the room then stopped suddenly, almost falling over someone lying on the floor.  A woman, she determined in the slowly growing light.  A young woman, hardly more than a girl, with dark hair and a very familiar face.  "Oh, Gods," she whispered aloud.  "It's you."

    Yes.  Naraku thinks to taunt Inu-Yasha by forcing him to choose.  He will hold both of us out and put him into position to save only one.

    But I don't need Inu-Yasha to save me, Kagome protested.  Sesshoumaru will.

    This is true, but Inu-Yasha will feel responsible for your capture, that this happened because of him.  He will still be torn.

    How do I stop it? Kagome asked, staring down at the lifeless body.  I don't have my bow.

    Killing this body is not the answer.  It has no life, and will not when Naraku presents it to Inu-Yasha.  It is real enough to the senses, but there is no spirit within.   Kikyo was silent for several moments. You must escape, she said at last.  I can show you the way out, and from there, your friends will have a chance to find you.

    What do you want me to do about this?  Kagome gestured to the body on the floor.

    Whatever seems best when the time comes.  It will not hinder you in the battle.  You must leave now, however.  Go out through the other door.

    Kikyo directed her through old dusty corridors and half-destroyed rooms, then down through storage spaces and finally out through a tiny door set low in the wall.  The barrier is not far.  I cannot pass it with you.  There is only one thing left I must tell you.  You must trade brothers, Kagome.  Your only hope of success lies in this.

    You're kidding, right?  I belong with Sesshoumaru.

    It's not that simple.  Now go, before you're found.  Kikyo's presence left, and Kagome stumbled.  There was a noise from the castle behind her, a great ruckus starting, and she ran, desperate to get away.



    They didn't walk boldly down the middle of the road anymore, but picked their way through the forest, Inu-Yasha making his way from branch to branch overhead.  He was awash with new sensations, scents, sounds.  He could fairly taste the air when he opened his mouth.  It was all dizzying, and a bit disturbing, too.

    He dropped silently to the forest floor and waited for the others to catch up.

    "Anything?" Sesshoumaru asked, leading the remainder of the party up to join him.

    "Iya.  Nothing new.  Faint miasma."  Golden eyes hard, his ears flicked constantly, taking in sounds he'd never heard before.  "Kuso.  Everything's too…  Too much.  Too many sounds, too many smells.  I take back all the times I wanted to be full youkai."

    "You're not," Sesshoumaru said flatly.

    "I know, and all this crap is still too much!"  He glared down at his hands.  The blood was gone, and he'd washed the ivory kimono, but his claws still gleamed wickedly in the dappled light.  "I hate this shit."  He glared at the ground for a long moment, then his head popped up, a fraction of a second after Sesshoumaru's.  "Sound.  Something comin', could be big enough."  He took to the trees again, racing from branch to branch in a red and white blur, then bursting out to tackle a figure in the road.

    "Inu-Yasha!"

    Sesshoumaru was beside them in a second, pulling Kagome off the ground and wrapping her in an embrace until only some of her hair and her dusty legs were visible.

    Long minutes and untold heartbeats later he let her slide free until she was standing on her own feet again.  "You're bleeding, though not badly," he said.  "Where?"

    She pulled back her hair to reveal a pair of ragged furrows on the left side of her neck, opposite Sesshoumaru's mark.  "A branch got me," she said as he inspected the wound.  "I was so busy watching where I was running from that I wasn't looking where I was going."

    "How'd you get away?" Inu-Yasha asked.

    She turned to answer him, and her face crumpled.  "Oh, Inu-Yasha…"  She brushed one striped cheek, but he turned his face away from her hand.

    "It's nothing.  Daijoubu.  What about you?"

    "Good enough."  She slid out of the red haori and offered it back.  "Arigato.  I would have been really cold last night without it."

    He shrugged back into it, and Sesshoumaru's arms wrapped around her, as if personally assuring she would never be chilled again.

    "How did you get away, Kagome?" he rumbled.  His children were well, his mate was back with him, the annoying hanyou Naraku would soon be destroyed, and then all would be well in Sesshoumaru's world.

    "I had another of those dreams," she began, then broke off to hug Miroku, Sango and Shippou, assuring them over and over that she was fine, that she hadn't been harmed.

    "About Kikyo?" Inu-Yasha asked, impatient as always.

    She looked at Sesshoumaru.  "You told him?"

    "It came up in conversation, yes.  What did she say?"

    "It was different this time," Kagome explained.  "I was awake, and I could hear her talking to me.  I remember everything she said.  Naraku asked me about the Jewel.  I don't think he could sense it on me.  He bugged me a lot about you, Inu-Yasha.  He thinks we're still together.  He was going to torture you, force you to choose between Kikyo and me."  She turned back to Sesshoumaru.  "He's resurrected her somehow, a flesh and blood body, I saw it.  Her spirit said that it won't be fighting us.  It's just a shell, a distraction. And she said…"  Kagome trailed off, unsure how, or even if, she should continue.
 
    "What did she say?" Sesshoumaru asked, gold eyes locked with hers.

    "To trade brothers.  That it was the only way to win.  I don't know what she meant, though.  To pretend I am still with Inu-Yasha, to fool Naraku?  He knows I've escaped by now, that I would tell you what I saw, the body…  Maybe he didn't plan on my knowing her spirit's not in it.  I don't know."  She rubbed her face, then pushed her hair back.  "I wish I could have told you more."

    "We know more than we did.  And you are returned to me.  For the moment, that is sufficient."  He drew Kagome against his side and looked to Inu-Yasha.  "What do you think?"

    "You're asking my opinion?"  Inu-Yasha shook his head.  "I dunno.  We could try it.  It's not like anything's gonna happen.  I just…"  He shook his head, and looked off in the direction from which Kagome had appeared.  "Kikyo…"

    Kagome curled further into Sesshoumaru's embrace, glad to simply be next to him again.  It no longer hurt that Inu-Yasha was pining for another woman; he deserved his happiness, and Kikyo had always been its personification for him.  "If it's what we have to do, I'm okay with it," she said quietly.

    "I think we should continue as we have in the past," Miroku offered.  "If Naraku already believes that Kagome and Inu-Yasha are still together, nothing in their behavior in battle would suggest otherwise.  If he still plans to force Inu-Yasha to choose…"

    "He will discover that the situation is not what he thought it was," Sango finished.  "And we've seen him make mistakes when his plans don't progress smoothly."

    "So we don't do anything different than normal?" Inu-Yasha asked.

    "You do not," Sesshoumaru said.  Reluctantly, he released Kagome and stepped away from her.  "I am still here to protect you."

    She nodded.  "I know."  She moved closer to Inu-Yasha, feeling very strange doing so under Sesshoumaru's gaze.  "Ne, I guess it took me about two hours to get here from the castle.  There's a barrier there…"

    "Hontou?" Inu-Yasha sneered, and she smacked him on the arm out of habit.

    "Yes, which is why you can't smell it, Mr. My-Nose-Is-So-Good."  She stomped down the road, Inu-Yasha scrambling to catch up.

    Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed.  Perhaps this plan might work too well.


    The Red Tetsusaiga cut the barrier like bean paste and they were through.  Inu-Yasha leapt up the stone ramps with Kagome's familiar weight perched on his back, feet hardly touching the walls.  Miroku and Sango rode Kirara with Shippou, and Sesshoumaru floated up as though untouched by gravity.

    They landed in Naraku's abandoned compound, Kagome slipping easily to the ground and pulling her bow from her shoulder, ready for anything.  The others ranged out, prepared for attack, shifting with tension in the empty dirt confines.

    For a endless moment, all was still.  Then a cackling voice broke from the main building.

    "Kukuku.  Inu-Yasha." Naraku appeared, baboon pelt slung around his waist.  "Surprised?  I am."

    "To be alive, you mean?  I can fix that."

    "You had the Jewel, didn't you?  And used it to become youkai, I see.  What a waste.  Let me show you something, Inu-Yasha.  Something else you could have used the Jewel for."  He gestured, and a figure joined him, moving stiffly in miko's garb.

    "K-kikyo.  Let her go, you bastard."  Even prepared, his voice was full of anguish.

    "Oh, perhaps I will.  If you give me something in exchange.  Something valuable."

    Kagome, you must trade the brothers.

    Kagome stared at the figure of the miko.  It helped, really, to have something to focus on.  I did.  We're pretending I'm still with Inu-Yasha.

    The inuyoukai are not what I meant.  The other brothers.

    Who, then?  I don't understand.

    Inu-Yasha must heal the heart of Naraku.  Inu-Yasha, Onigumo and I are at the heart of this disaster, and we must be the center from which it heals.

    She heard a low pulse then, and turned in time to see Sesshoumaru's eyes go wide.  "Kagome no baka," she muttered, racing over to him.  "Give me the Tenseiga," she said quickly.

    "Nani?"

    "Please, I don't have time to explain.  If you love me, give it to me.  You'll get it back, I swear."

    He blinked, then pulled the katana free and offered it to her.

    She gripped it tight and flashed him a brilliant smile.  "Arigato, itoshi.  I'll be right back."

    Sword clenched in one hand, she pulled an arrow from her quiver, ducking and dodging creatures from Naraku's cloud of youkai as Miroku and Sango along with Shippou and Kirara kept them back.  She charged the arrow with purity, then leaped into a roll, coming up just below Inu-Yasha and stabbing at the Tetsusaiga with the arrow.  It hit true, and the Fang shrank back to its unassuming form, a rusted chipped katana.

    "Nande kuso?" he shouted as she knocked the sword from his hands.

    "I got the wrong brothers," she shouted back, slapping the Tenseiga into his hands.  "It has to be you.  Heal Onigumo, and he'll lose control of the youkai."

    "How do you know that?"

    "Kikyo told me.  Hurry!"  She yanked the Tetsusaiga's scabbard free and raced to collect the sword.  "You can trade back later.  Just do it!"

    She ran back toward Sesshoumaru, hearing silk rip as something passed close enough behind her to feel it.  You better not be lying to me, Kikyo.  Reaching Sesshoumaru, she held out the Tetsusaiga, and he stared at her as if she had gone mad.

    "You can take it," she insisted, knowing what was racing through his mind.  "It's not human blood it requires, it's human love; the desire to protect a human.  Take the sword, Sesshoumaru, and protect me."

    He grasped the tattered hilt, expecting to be blasted away, but the sword didn't react.  He drew it forth from the sheath, and it grew, transforming into the ivory Fang he'd desired for so long.  "Get behind me, koi," he instructed, sliding the Tetsusaiga's sheath into his sash above Toukijin.  With a leap, he was levitating, and with a single slash, yellow fire poured forth from the blade, disintegrating the youkai pouring down from the sky.


    Naraku's eyes widened, but he showed no other reaction.  "You seem to have gotten the worst of that trade, Inu-Yasha.  Your woman is his, your sword is his.  What is left that is yours?"

    He was seeing things, he was sure.  Small, disgusting things were crawling all over Naraku and Kikyo.  Why didn't I see them before?  The sword pulsed in his hand, and he stared down at it.  Well, if you like Sesshoumaru, you'll love me, he thought, and pulled the blade free.  It glowed blue, and the tiny demon-things cowered.  Okay, Tenseiga.  For now, it's you and me.  Ash rained down from the sky as he sped across the dirt and jumped, sword flashing, carving not through Naraku, but through the disgusting creatures attached to him.

    It felt like some kind of explosion as the youkai that made Naraku burst free, leaving the remains of the human thief lying on the steps.

    "Inu-Yasha, move!"  He looked up to see his brother staring down at him, Tetsusaiga poised to sweep away the remaining youkai in a single blow.  He grabbed Kikyo's body, released from its puppetry and jumped, clearing the writhing bodies easily.

    Yellow fire flashed again, and the youkai that had been Naraku evaporated.  In the air, Sesshoumaru turned, catching sight of the taiji-ya and houshi fighting off the last of Naraku's servants, flashes from Kagome's arrows illuminating them at regular intervals.  "Sango-san!" he called, and she looked up, nodding and fleeing with the others on Kirara as another blast of fire came down.

    Sesshoumaru surveyed the castle from the air, and satisfied at last that the enemy had been decimated, settled slowly to the ground.  He crossed the compound to Inu-Yasha, who was kneeling above the miko's body.  "I don't know what to do," he said dully, staring down at her.

    "You have used the sword?" Sesshoumaru asked.

    "Yes.  It's not doing anything."

    The taiyoukai studied the woman more carefully.  "She is breathing, her heart beats.  From what I can tell, she lives.  Inu-Yasha."  He sheathed the Tetsusaiga and held it out.  "Thank you for the loan of your sword."

    Inu-Yasha blinked, then held out the sheathed Tenseiga.  "Yeah.  Thanks."  He replaced the katana at his side, gaze turning back to Kikyo's body.  "I don't know what to do."

    Kagome limped up, reaching out to lean on Sesshoumaru.  “Twisted my ankle,” she explained quickly, grimacing a little.  “It’ll be fine.  What about Kikyo?”

    “She appears to have no spirit,” Sesshoumaru said, slipping a hand around Kagome’s waist to support her more.

    “Uh-huh.”  She glanced at Inu-Yasha.  “Not a word out of you, mister.  You screwed this up big last time.”

    He nodded silently, staring at the still form on the ground.

    Kagome sighed.  “Let me think about this a moment.”  She closed her eyes, reaching for the presence deep inside.  Kikyo?

    I am here, imouto-san.  I see you found the answer.

    I had some help.  Your body is alive, Kagome explained.

    So I see.  What do you propose?

    You wanted to be an ordinary human girl once.  I think that can be arranged.

    What about you? Kikyo asked.

    I think I can arrange it so we both survive.  I have a lot to live for, too.

    Yes, you do.  And Inu-Yasha?

    It’s up to you.  But you should know, his youkai blood is becoming more prominent.  Can you live with that?

    I can try.  I will try.  I cannot promise more than that.

    Okay.  But promise if you decide to break it off, you’ll do it right.  No arrows.

    No arrows.  On my honor.  I suppose he and I will have to learn to trust one another this time.

    It’s a darned good start.  Good luck, Onee-san.  She opened her eyes and shifted, stepping out of Sesshoumaru’s grip.  “I know what I’m going to do,” she said, kneeling across Kikyo’s body from Inu-Yasha.  “Let her go for a moment, Inu-Yasha.  I can’t predict what would happen if you were touching her when I do this.”

    “Do what?” he asked, scooting back a little.

    “I’m going to restore her soul.”  She slid the Shikon no Tama over her head and freed it from its chain, taking Kikyo’s hand and holding it with the jewel between her own.

    Inu-Yasha leaned forward.  “Ka-”

    Sesshoumaru clapped a hand over his mouth.  “Be quiet.  Everything is in flux.  To call to either of them now will disrupt the balance.”

    The mikos were glowing, the light growing brighter and brighter until even the humans with their pitiful eyesight were forced to look away.  When it finally faded, neither woman had moved.  Then, slowly, Kikyo sat up, assisted by Kagome.

    “Arigato, imouto-san,” she said, voice rusty from disuse.

    “Do Itashimashite, onee-san.” Kagome replied, helping Kikyo to stand. 

    “All right, now?” Kagome asked as the former miko grew steadier on her feet.

    “Hai, domo.”  Bare feet shuffled in the dirt, and she looked up.  “Inu-Yasha?  Oh, Inu-Yasha.”  Her voice was heartsick.

    He looked away, his own heart ready to break.  “I know you don’t like it.  You don’t have to-”

    Kikyo crossed the few feet between them, fingers stilling his lips.  “I will, we will learn to accept it.  Yes?”

    He could only nod, pulling her close and tucking her head under his chin.  His eyes drifted closed for a long moment, and when he opened them, she was still there, holding him as if he would vanish were she to let go.  Kagome stood where she had been, watching them with a gentle smile on her face.

    She reached back, and Sesshoumaru’s hand was in hers, pulling her a step back into his arms, and she could see Sango and Miroku exchanging a warm embrace as well.  Bet they’ll have another little one before a year has passed, she thought.

    Sesshoumaru’s voice rang in her mind.  I would not wager against it.

    What?!

    Not now, koi, he soothed her.  Later, when this conversation will not draw so much attention.

    Shippou looked up from where he was resting on Kirara’s broad back.  “Oi, who’m I gonna hug?”

    Kagome laughed and held her arms wide, letting the half-grown kit jump onto her.  He was too big to curl up in her arms now, but she cuddled him for a good while before finally putting him down.  “Shippou, can I ask you to do a big favor for me?”

    “Sure, Kagome.  Anything.”

    She glanced up at Inu-Yasha, then looked back to the kitsune.  “Shippou, Inu-Yasha’s a lot more youkai than he used to be, and he’s gonna need a lot of help, from someone with experience, figuring it all out.  Do you think-”

    “Oi, wench, you want the brat to teach me to be a demon?  Your brain really is broken!”

    “Inu-Yasha,” Sesshoumaru growled warningly.

    “Feh!”


    They traveled north en masse for two days, until Sesshoumaru announced as they were making camp that he and Kagome would break off the next morning, turning more to the west and returning to his domain.  Kagome was disappointed a little, but it was time.  Her life was in the Western Lands now, and the others would presumably be returning to the taiji village, perhaps with a stopover in Kikyo’s home village.  Kaede, well over 60 now, deserved a chance to see her sister at least once more in this life.

    Kagome walked the riverbank near the camp, watching the cool water slip over the rocks in the stream bed, little fish darting here and there.  So wrapped in her own thoughts was she that she didn’t hear the soft footsteps approaching.

    “Kagome?”

    Kagome looked up to see Kikyo standing a few paces off.  “Hey.  Have a seat,” she offered, patting the grass beside her.

    “Thank you,” the girl said, sitting gracefully.

    “It’s a free riverbank,’ Kagome offered.

    “No, though I thank you for your company as well.  Thank you for bringing me back.”

    “I’m glad I did,” Kagome said after a moment.  “I wasn’t sure I was going to be, but it was the right thing.  You and Inu-Yasha deserve to be happy.  And I’m sorry about, you know, before.”

    “Don’t worry about it.  That whole time is like a nightmare now, a dark dream I could only wander through and wish to be free of.”

    “So now what will you do?” Kagome asked.  “I see you talkin’ to Inu-Yasha a lot,” she ribbed gently.

    “We are starting over,” the former miko admitted.  “Talking about things, our feelings, the future.  I have no power now, no ability to purify that which is tainted.”

    “I’m sorry about that,” Kagome said quickly.  “There wasn’t really any other way...”

    “I understand.  And I have not lost my skill with herbs or healing.  I think I will go to the taiji village.  I can be useful there, whatever Inu-Yasha and I decide.  They need a full time healer, and I can be that, and a teacher.  And perhaps, in time, a mother.”  She smiled at the thought, the setting sun lighting her face with pinks and corals.  “I think I would like that very much.”

    “I think you’d be a very good mother.  Inu-Yasha, on the other hand.  He’s gonna need some training up for parenthood.”

    “Is Sesshoumaru a good father?” Kikyo asked.

    “Oh, yes.  A little stiff sometimes, formal, but it’s a demanding role he has.  And the children adore him, completely.  Maybe he should give Inu-Yasha lessons.”

    Kikyo smiled gently.  “Perhaps.  Will we see each other again, Kagome?  I want to think so, but something deep inside me says that this could be the end.”

    “I don’t know.” Kagome said honestly.  “I hope we do.  I’d like for you to meet my children, and to eventually see yours, and Sango’s.  I’d like us to be friends.”

    “Do you think it’s possible, with everything that’s happened?”

    “This is the Land of the Gods.  Anything is possible.”



    “And you’ll tell her I’m alive?” Kagome asked again.

    “Yes, woman, I will.  I said it ten times, didn’t I?  You’re alive, you’re fine, if you can contact her, you will.  Feh.”  Inu-Yasha was distancing them, she realized, pushing her away, separating her from Kikyo in his mind.  It was what he needed to do, to make things work, especially now, and she let him.  Later, perhaps, they could rebuild their close friendship.

    “Okay.”  She hugged him again, and was gratified that he did hug her back at least.  She went down the line, hugging each of them in turn and promising letters and visits whenever possible.  She hugged Shippou last.

    “Don’t forget to help Inu-Yasha,” she reminded him, loud enough for the hanyou to hear.  “He’s gonna need a lot of advice.”

    “Feh.”

    Sesshoumaru stood patiently by as the day wore on in good-byes.  “Kagome,” he said at last, “we still have a great deal of distance to cover.”

    “Hai, Sesshoumaru.”  She released the kitsune, wiping tears from her eyes and joined him, letting him lift her off the ground.  She waved as the ground shrank away from them.  “Ja ne.”


    The air was chilly as they soared through the sky, but tucked close to Sesshoumaru, Kagome didn’t feel the cold.

    “So do you want to tell me what you were doing in my head?” she asked over the rush of the wind.

    “You were in my head, as well.  Did you consider what you were doing when you gave Kikyo the humanity of your soul?”

    “I was fairly sure I wouldn’t kill either of us.  She wanted to be human, and I thought it would be safest to keep the other part with me.”

    He shifted her in his arms, tucking the fur more securely around her.  He could hold her for hours on end as she was, but wanted to see her face.  “You still gave half of your considerable soul to another being.  It created a void, which had to be filled.”

    “By what?”

    “Whatever was closest.”

    She puzzled over that for a moment.  “You and Inu-Yasha were the nearest at the time.”

    “It is more than physical proximity.  Bonds of spirit matter as well.”

    “So what?” she asked.  “Does that mean I sucked out part of you?”

    “I believe we now share it, rather than one or the other owning the spirit, as it were.”

    “Oh.”  She snuggled further into his arms.  “Well, there’s no one else I’d like to have occupying my head with me.”

    “I agree.  But it is not simply a matter of sharing space.  You now possess at least a small piece of youki.  I believe we can anticipate some interesting changes from this experience.”

    “Joy.”  She yawned.  “Mind if I doze off for a while?”

    “Not at all.”  He carried her northwest as she slept through the quiet night sky.


Epilogue

    Kagome entered the study, several sheets of paper, waving from her hand.  “Latest letter from Sango,” she sing-songed, kneeling opposite Sesshoumaru.  He set aside the scroll he was reading and turned his full attention to her.  Their shared youki had left her mostly unchanged, though her ears were decidedly more pointed, and her nails longer and harder.  All in all, she appeared to be a beautifully delicate inuyoukai female.

    “What does she have to say?”

    “Ne, Miroku’s a father again, girl this time.  He seems to have had about the same reaction you did.  Do all men think girls come from the cabbage patch or something?”  She caught his quizzical look and moved on.  “Never mind.  Not important.”

    “How many is that?” he asked.

    “Seven.  Six boys, one girl.  Sango thinks a break would be nice, she and Kikyo have been talking over herbs?”

    “To prevent pups?”

    “People do it,” Kagome said, scanning the letter further.  “Shippou has apparently discovered that girls are nice-looking, and smell interesting.  There’s a colony of kitsune not too far from the village, keep to themselves, don’t create trouble, really.  Shippou’s been to visit several times.  Sango thinks he might move permanently someday soon.”  She sighed.

    “All children grow up,” he pointed out.

    “True.  Oh, and Inu-Yasha finally got around to asking Kikyo.  Don’t know what he was waiting for.  Kikyo said last time she wrote that they had been fairly serious for months.  They plan to have a simple ceremony very soon, ‘perhaps before you receive this. Miroku has agreed to officiate, because-’  Ha!”

    “What?”

    Kagome grinned broadly.  “Congratulations.  You’re going to be an uncle.”

    “They are having pups?”

    She nodded.  “At least one, with any luck.  Huh.  I’ll have to write back right away, and let Inu-Yasha know he’s in the same boat.”

    “What?!”

    “Knew I could eventually ruffle that cool exterior.  Double congratulations.  You’re going to be a father, again.”

    “You are not jesting with me?” he asked suspiciously.

    “Not about this.”

    “You have not been ill, though.”

    She shrugged.  “It’s different every time, or so they said in Family Life class.  I just figured it out today.”  She set the papers down and reached for his hand.  “Here, feel this.”  Through trial and error, they had discovered that exchanging information through their shared soul was much easier when accompanied by touch.  She opened herself up to the new presence inside her, and led him to feel it as well.

    “That is my pup?” he asked after a moment.

    “Yeah.  So start thinking of names,” she suggested.  “Boys and girls.  We’re not going to wait for something bright to pop out of my mouth again.”

    “How long?” he asked,

    “Months,” she replied.  “A couple more than Kikyo, I’m sure, considering how long this letter took to get here.”  She started flipping through the pages again, but he brushed them aside, lifting her to her feet.

    “You make me very happy, Kagome-koi, and I neglect sometimes to tell you that.”  He pulled her into a warm embrace, and she nestled her head against his chest, feeling his heart, beating for her.

    “I know, Sesshoumaru-sama.  Believe me, I know.”
 
*Owari*

AN:  Rin's lullaby nabbed blatantly from Inu-Yasha episode #77, with a minor alteration of 'Jaken' to 'Kagome.'  It's incredibly beautiful in the original Japanese, and one of my favorite moments in the whole series.

Back to Inuyasha fanfic
Back to Anime Land
Back to the Shadowspace