InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Lifetime Loving You Part 2; The Path to Osaka ❯ Sacrifice and the Path to Osaka ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer! No! Not that! No! (Long pause) okay you talked me into it! Inu-yasha is not mine and nor are any of the other characters.

A Lifetime Loving You

Part 2; The Path to Osaka

OMG! Okay, people I asked for 5 reviews, not to double the amount I already had! WOW you love me you really love me…well fine you love the fic but I get some of the credit.

I got the nicest bad review somewhere in there too, a very mature individual who didn't bad mouth the story and just explained that she didn't have the same views. I thank you for your maturity and believe me you have not been the first to tell me that Sesshoumaru was violated in this event. I'm just waiting for the right time for him to finally get the information and I have that plotted and ready in Part 3. I merely wanted him to know that he had a daughter at this point in time.

Also, I just thought it would be OOC if Sesshoumaru took in a hanyo daughter, while at the same time he's trying to hide the fact he's raising a human child already. We all know how much Sesshoumaru `loves' shame.

Okay, let's satisfy you cliffy haters and get to the next chapter. I actually had one reviewer counting the reviews and e-mailed me when I had six so that I could post the next chapter. Needless to say, you all sound pretty desperate so, here we go.

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Chapter 7; Sacrifice and the Path to Osaka

(Inu-yasha)

I finally came up for air some ways down the river and swam to the shore and pulled myself up and out of the icy water. The air hit me instantly and made me feel even colder. I blinked my eyes a few times and shivered as I staggered to my feet and slowly made my way toward the burning village.

I watched the flame from afar until I could think clearly again and with a hard swallow, I removed my nagajugan and pulled it over my head to provide my body a little more protection for a moment, even though I knew that demonic fire's heat would dry out the white cloth fast.

I took a few long breaths and snapped into action as I ran down the path and into the village of orangey glowing houses. I watched my feet as I passed through the sizzling sandy ground. Huts began to fall and I had to think fast to dodge and make sure the flame didn't touch me.

I huffed as the heat began to make my once cold body now begin to sweat. It was getting harder to breath in the heat and the heat was torture on my eyes as I found myself trying to squint through the flame and blink while running to see where I was going.

I made it to the main path after having to find every alternative route in the burning village as huts fell in my path. I looked down the path toward the burning temple arches. I narrowed my eyes to peer through lavender flame and found that Kaede's hut was untouched by the flame.

I coughed as I tried to breath through my drying nagajugan and then pounded my feet as quickly as possible ignoring the burning ambers that hit the pads of my feet. I wrapped myself tightly in the cloth and tumbled through the flames and to the hut's door.

"Kaede…Kitsumi?"

I rushed thorough the door ripping the reed door down to see Kaede sweating beads of sweat and trails of blood down her face. She was in prayer, holding up a shield with Kitsumi in her lap quivering in fear.

"Inu-yasha!" she squealed and ran into my arms when I fell to my knees in exhaustion, and tried to breath the cooler air with in the hut.

I took off my only source of protection and wrapped her in it. "We're going to get out of here, Squirt. Everything's going to be okay now."

She whimpered through a few tears of fear and I held her close to be being thankful that she was still safe.

Then, I turned to look at Old Kaede as she continued to pray. She opened her eyes and looked at me. "Inu-yasha, go! Ye child is in danger as long as she remains here. My sacred shield will not hold much longer."

I snarled, "I'm not leaving here without the both of you."

Kaede groaned trying to hold the barrier. "Do not be a fool. Ye are human on this night and do not have the strength to carry this old woman and yon girl. I will continue to let the flame believe that I am protecting what could be left in this hut, but ye must get the child out of here."

My heart fell for the old woman, she was stubborn but the honor and lack of fear in her eyes told me that this was it. It was time for me to finally grow up, and the weight on my shoulders came with these words.

"Ner' return to this village of Edo, Inu-yasha. You must take all those who have survived away from these lands."

Kitsumi shivered as her right hand touched my chest, and the look in Kaede's eyes told me all I needed to know. Go to a place where Naraku could not seek Kitsumi out with ease.

I nodded as I tried to fight back the tears, and clutched Kitsumi to my breast and covered her head in the damp clothing.

I then looked at Kaede as a fresh trail of blood ran down her face. "I won't forget you old woman…I'll finish the deeds you couldn't complete in life."

I tightened my grip on Kitsumi and rushed out the door into the flame and along the main path that had begun to set fire and hiss as the sand cooked.

"Inu-yasha…I leave the village in your hands." Kaede then let her prayer weaken and the flames came through the hut and engulfed the hut in a fury.

I glanced back and my breath caught in my throat as I watched the lavender flame glow as it engulfed the now vulnerable hut. I turned around and ran down the path as fast as I could.

The flame roared from behind us, and the wind picked up. I took only one glance behind me and saw the flame dragon roar as I neared the end of the path. I saw blood drip on to the cloth wrapped around Kitsumi.

The dragon then made it's way toward us trying to head us off and trap us in the flame. Kitsumi's head popped out of the cloth and she looked above as the dragon flew overhead hissing. I saw it and continued to pick up the pace.

Kitsumi whimpered, "Inu-yasha, it's going to get us."

I held her close to me and her tiny hand touched my pounding heart, and she looked out of the corner of her eye.

I stopped and let my feet skid against my feet and dodged down a smaller path to get to the river further up. I ran along the path untouched by flame as the houses burst into lavender flame around us.

I was getting tired and I couldn't breathe and when the flame passed us and grew in height only some distance ahead of us, I panicked. My hand gripped Kitsumi's shoulder when she screamed, flame took shape and roared. My breath caught when I could feel the heat of the fire getting closer behind us.

We were trapped…this was it!

"NO!" Kitsumi screamed, and the next thing I knew I felt a sharp pain in my chest where Kitsumi's hand was and saw the tiny white and gold claws digging into my breast.

I cried out in pain and to hide my fear as I approached the growling flame and ran into it.

But…instead of the expected heated burning pain, I felt my heart pound and a white light blinded me as I felt something that felt like…I was alive. Like a living air had surrounded my body and ran through my veins was not sending sensations through my body.

Then next thing I knew, I felt incredibility cold and when I opened my eyes I discovered I was in a rushing pool of cold water.

Somehow, and I didn't know how, but we were there. We had made it into the safety of the river.

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(Kagome)

My breathing picked up when I saw with my own eyes as Inu-yasha ran with Kitsumi in his arms through the purple flame and then splash into the river up stream.

"INU-YASHA!" I cried and watched the water as Miroku and Sango rushed to my side.

Shippo ran out of the woods behind us then and came to our side when he saw the village in flame. "What…what's going on? What happened, you guys?"

Miroku looked at Shippo and kneeled down to his level. "Shippo, keep Kara and Kohaku warm."

He was ready to argue his point when he shook it off and curled up with Kara and Kohaku who were wrapped in Sango's robe.

I watched the river water in a panic as I tried to look through the dark water with no true source of light.

"Please," I whispered to myself, "Please don't leave me!"

There was a moment of complete silence as villagers and children watched.

When the silence broke, it was from the breaching sound of air and Inu-yasha's gasp for air as his body rose out of the cold winter water like a phoenix out of the ashes.

I gasped when I saw him and watched Kitsumi come up in his arms a moment later. She clung to his neck wrapped in Inu-yasha's shirt as he struggled to make it to the shore. Miroku grabbed his hand and a fellow villager took his other hand and pulled them both on to shore. Kitsumi coughed and shivered as I ran to her side and held her for a moment.

"Mom!" she whimpered as my arms wrapped around her tiny cold and wet body.

"Oh thank gods, Kitsumi. You're alright!"

I quickly removed the fire rat vest from my back and put it down as I covered Kitsumi up in order to remove her wet clothing and then clothe her in the fire rat vest.

"Mommy, K-K-Kaede…sh she'sss gone!"

I held her in my arms again and held her. "It's okay, Kitsumi! It's okay! I'm here now! You're going to be okay now!" I continued to reassure her. I then turned to look up at Inu-yasha as Miroku approached him.

Inu-yasha looked on with his arms wrapped around himself, shivering in the night air. Miroku then removed his robe and tossed it over Inu-yasha's body. Inu-yasha turned to him as he pulled the cloth around his body. Miroku smiled. "You need to stop trying to impress people with your heroism. You're going to make me look useless."

Inu-yasha let out a shivering small laugh and looked at the ground and held him to try and warm him up. "I'll be alright! I just need a bandage for the wound in my chest when Kitsumi dug her claws into me."

Miroku pulled the blanket away and his face become confused. "What wound, Inu-yasha?"

His brow narrowed as he looked down at the breast Kitsumi had punctured…and there was not even a scar. He ran his hand over his skin and looked at his fingers. "How can that be? I saw her claws dig into me when we approached the wall of flame just before the river's edge."

Miroku touched Inu-yasha's forehead. "Maybe the heat got to you and you were getting delusional."

Inu-yasha snapped, "Hey, I know what I saw okay!"

Miroku stared at him. "Well one thing is sure…the fire heated up your temper enough that even the icy water couldn't cool it down."

I watched as Inu-yasha growled at Miroku and then picked up Kitsumi and placed her with Shippo and the twins. "Keep her warm for me, you guys."

Shippo nodded for the party and everyone hugged Kitsumi.

"You're going to be okay now, Kitsumi," Shippo said.

Kara stared at her for a moment and then smiled and hugged her too. "Yeah, you're with us now. Well, make sure you stay nice and warm."

"Hey, I want to help!" Kohaku whined.

Kitsumi looked up at them all for a moment, completely amazed. "You-you guysss aren't scared of me?"

They all looked at her like she was crazy. "Are you kidding?" Kara said sarcastically, "You're our best friend, no matter what you look like."

Kitsumi looked at them all for a moment and smiled as she put her arms around them. "You're the best, guys!"

I smiled as I watched them for a moment before turning to look at Inu-yasha.

He continued to shiver as another villager gave up his robe for him. He thanked them when I approached him and waited for him to turn to me.

We stared at each other for a moment, until Inu-yasha shivered and pulled his chin to his chest to pull the robes around him a little more. "Is Kitsumi alright?" he asked.

I snapped out of my daze and shook my head. Inu-yasha almost miss took it for the bad news. "She's fine! Shippo and the twins are warming her up."

Inu-yasha showed a small smile and pulled the blankets around him a little more. "Good, a little body heat should warm her up really fast," he laughed as she shivered and tried to warm himself up a little more.

I looked at him for a moment longer as he shivered, and began to feel tears form in my eyes before I tried to keep a sob from escaping my lips.

The next thing I knew, I had thrown myself into Inu-yasha's body and threw my arms around his neck and held him close to me.

Inu-yasha held his breath for a moment, shocked by my reaction as my chest heaved with the quiet sobs I was making on his shoulder. When he relaxed he wrapped me in his arms and the robes around his body.

My hands drifted to his chest and I sobbed into to the crook in his neck and shoulder. He tried to comfort me, and he chest collapsed when he sighed through his nose. "Kagome, Kitsumi's going to be alright now. She's safe. I told you, I wouldn't let anything happen to her."

I tried to pull myself together and I pulled my head up to look into those deep violet eyes. "I'm not crying about that…I was just…so scared." I gasped to catch my breath as tears ran down my cheeks.

"I thought…I thought I was going to lose both of you. I thought, you weren't going to come back to me…and…I wouldn't have anyone. I thought you weren't going to come back."

I put my face back into his neck when his eyes widened in shock and I held him again trying to reassure myself that this cold, wet body was his.

Inu-yasha's grip on me tightened, and his lips brushed against my ear. "I told you…I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to leave Kitsumi and you to face the world alone."

He held me a little closer until I raised my cheek to brush against his rough one from the evening facial hair growth. My hands wander into the wet locks of hair and let my nose touch his as tears streamed down my face and he nuzzled my face sweetly to sooth me.

Suddenly, we jumped when we heard the flame roar again. All eyes turned to watch as the lavender flame that took on a dragon's shape howled before whimpering as it disappeared and the lavender flame turned yellow and orange continuing to burn the village.

Inu-yasha's brow narrowed. "We need to head to the west again."

I looked at him in shock until he finally met my gaze. "I won't let him get his hands on Kitsumi," he whispered.

I looked down at his chest and placed my hands over his breast as his heart pounded beneath my palm. "Where can we go?"

Inu-yasha looked out at the flame. "We'll have to go to Osaka…into my father's domain where his claim can protect Kitsumi from Naraku's eye. It's the only way to keep her safe."

"How long will it take to get there?"

Inu-yasha blinked for a moment. "If we take the path through the valley we can get to Osaka in two months, but it's treacherous. We'll have to be on our toes."

I looked up at him as his eyes met mine. I then looked at the villagers. "What about the village? Naraku will come after them in order to get to us. I don't want to leave Miroku and Sango alone again with their children, Shippo too."

Inu-yasha stared at me and sighed before looking at the flame again. Then his forehead leaned against mine before exhaling through his nose and opening his eyes to look at me. "We'll bring them with us…all of them."

My eyes widened as I looked into Inu-yasha's eyes. "Will they make it?"

"I'll make sure of it. Every villager here will get to safety, and will build a new village in the confines of my father's abandoned estate by the sea. The ground is rich for planting there and there's plenty of fish and squid in the ocean there. We'll have everything we need."

He paused for a moment to shiver and swallow. "Well stop in Owari, the half-way point and as Polaris for aid. If we're lucky, the hardest part will be getting everyone through the mountains to her home."

I looked into his eyes and closed mine to let my nose touch his again and tangle my fingers in his cold wet hair. Inu-yasha sighed in contentment and his hands griped me a little more until my cheek rested on his shoulder and we held each other as his nose found warmth in the crook between my jaw and neck.

`I don't know what I would do…if I lost you. But, if I do, it will be to Kikyo, no one else.'

But the thought of Kikyo made tears form in my eyes again and my lips throbbed to feel the warmth of Inu-yasha's kiss once again. But, I knew…I knew he wasn't mine.

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(Kitsumi)

Kara and Kohaku stared at the flaming village as Shippo tried to keep all of us warm.

Kara whimpered, "What are we going to do now?" and she began to cry until I hugged her and tried to comfort her.

Then my eyes drifted to see my mother in Inu-yasha's arms, both holding the other like they thought one might slip away form their grasp. My eyes widened as I watched them pull apart to look into each others eyes and their noses touch once again before Mother put her nose under his chin on the opposite side of Inu-yasha's face.

I felt something pull at my lip, and the flaming village didn't seem to exist anymore…but the flame before me did by just looking at Inu-yasha's sad eyes…and my mother's.

`Mother…really does love Inu-yasha…and Inu-yasha really does love my mother.'

I smiled a little as I rested my chin on top of Kara's head and I watched them and they held each other…and I felt warm inside, loving they way Mother and Inu-yasha looked wrapped in each other's arms and the donated robes.

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Okay! Well, now you guys have the Seventh Chapter and the first sign of the walls beginning to weaken between Inu-yasha and Kagome. And yeah, Kitsumi's devious little mind has its wheels turning.

Next time, the journey begins…and the jealousy flames as Tai, the chicken royal samurai, arrives on the scene. Well, Kitsumi has her work cut out for her, doesn't she…or is the Inu-yasha?

See you soon! And thanks for all those reviews. I can't wait to read more!

SDR