InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Another Time, Another Life ❯ Chapter 8

All Normal Disclaimers Apply

A/N: Y'all I'm so sorry about the delay and even this chapter isn't as far along that I wished it to be. I do not have the dinner w/ Miroku's (or rather Takai's) family in this chapter. So I'm either going to be posting another chapter near the end of the week or I'm going to be doing a weird Halloween chapter. Hopefully it'll be the first.

Thank you to everyone who was so kind to "review" my A/N and wish me better health. It's nice to know people care. My neck is getting better though the muscles are still aching and it's hard to keep my head in certain positions. The worse part of everything though was that I had a migraine last night that was causing my illness and now not only is my throat and stomach (especially my abs) sore as anything but I'm starving and afraid to eat b/c my headache has not receded and I'm afraid I'll get another migraine tonight. I'm blaming it all on stress and more specifically classes.

Well thank you again and I promise to get the rest of the chapter out to you as soon as physically possible.

One more thing: I received an email asking me to correct the spelling of Koga's name. I used to spell it Kouga until one day I noticed at the ending credits of Inuyasha they spell it Koga and not Kouga. If you think about how they pronounce it, this seems more logical as well (though I do realize that you can't go purely by how it sounds). So I have corrected my spelling of his name based on that little information. I do not collect Inuyasha manga so I don't know how its spelled there but I'm going to go by what the episodes say. I'm sorry if this makes anyone angry.

I'm dedicating this chapter to Sandy b/c I haven't talked to her in like two days and that's sad. I'm sure you noticed a lot of my chapters have shouts out to her but that's only b/c she's the greatest and helps me keep my muse in line (whether she knows it or not)…

I DON'T HAVE TIME NOR DO I FEEL WELL ENOUGH TO EDIT THIS FOR GRAMMAR OR MISTAKES, ETC. I WILL POST IT NOW AND THEN COME BACK WHEN I'M READY TO POST THE NEXT CHAPTER AND CORRECT ANY MISTAKES. SORRY FOR THE INCONVIENCE.

Chapter Eight:

The four-year-old continued to talk unaware of the tension between the two teens in the front seats. Kagome had not talked to Miroku since they had left Sunny Days Daycare. She paid most of her attention to Sen or the moving view outside the car's windows.

They had driven a good fifteen minutes into the suburbs of Tokyo. The houses were almost all two or three story homes painted in neutral tones so no one house clashed with another.

The houses were spaced further apart than in the city allowing the properties to have big front yards. In most of these yards, flocks of children were trying to take advantage of the last sunlight of the day to play games with each other. The smell of bar-b-ques and the slight puffs of smoke indicated that the adults of the household were out back cooking dinner in equally big backyards.

Miroku turned left on a street and the houses almost immediately became bigger and more elaborate. Where the houses before were completely painted wood vinyl siding, these were made entirely of brick w/ ornate details encompassing the whole property. All the yards were kept trimmed and landscaped to perfection.

There were no kids playing at the front of these houses and the only sign that anyone occupied the homes currently were lights filtering through expensive window dressings and expensive, foreign cars parked in the drive or garage.

"That's Seiichi's house." Gregor pointed to the right.

The house was about as big as its neighbors except held more details with the landscaping. It was a brick mass of the richest red and picture windows with entrecote details carved into the sills.

The house looked to be four stories high and four or five large rooms across.

In the yard very little greenery was actually kept. A cobblestone circular drive led from the street with an elaborate marble fountain and a small pond within the middle of the drive.

The fountain itself was pure marble. A cherub was perched on the top balanced on one foot with the other held behind him parallel to the ground. The cherub looked like it was dancing with a look of mischief on its face as it spit out a steady stream of water towards a suspended lily pad.

The lily pad was the beginning of a domino effect of lily pads that caused waterfalls to flow down in a spiral half way down the fountain. There the lily pads stopped and giant lion's heads were carved into the marble.

Each lion's head spirited out water, just as the Cherub was doing, except the water went directly into the small pond at the fountain's base.

Within the slightly murky pond several large goldfish swam near the surface as they ate the bugs that dared come to near.

The fountain, as well as the rest of the house visible from the road, was very elaborate and Kagome had no doubt it was very expensive.

"His parents are both very esteemed doctors. His father is one of the world's leading heart surgeons and his mother is a neurologist of the same status. They are extremely wealthy because of this but it also means that Seiichi rarely actually sees his parents." Gregor explained seeing Kagome's wide-eyed reaction to the expensive house.

"He lives there? By himself?" She asked softly with a slight hint of sadness in her tone.

"He has servants and stuff but yeah, for the most part, he's by himself. He usually just comes over to my house." Gregor answered.

Miroku began to slow down before he took another left. There were no other houses on this street only one at the very end.

This house was fenced in with cast iron gates with the Kanji of the wolf written in gold lettering.

There were tons of people out in the front, like the houses they saw earlier.

The gate opened and Miroku drove in. He stopped and the boys climbed out of the car, Gregor carrying Sen with him.

Kagome climbed out looking amazed at the brick house ahead of her. There were at least five or six stories and to either side the house continued outwards with many large rooms each.

"It's even larger than it looks here. The house sits quite deep on the property. There is also a couple of sub-levels." Miroku explained. "It holds all of Koga's pack so it has to be big."

Kagome let the information sink in before realizing who had spoken and his close proximity. She quickly stepped away.

"Sis!" A voice called out to Kagome.

Another voice accompanied the call a second later. She turned and immediately recognized the Mohawk of one Koga's old pack mates, followed by another familiar face.

"Hakkaku, Ginta!" She exclaimed as both wolves came and greeted her.

"It's been too long sis, we never thought we'd see you again." Ginta said extremely happy at seeing the adopted pack mate.

Kagome was all smiles as they pulled her towards the mahogany front doors. Miroku followed behind, a slight frown marring his face. He entered behind the three and followed them as Kagome was shown briefly parts of the house.

The first two floors were common rooms where the pack hung out along with two kitchens to feed the expanse of them.

The next two floors were individual bedrooms like any normal house would have except these were decorated very expensively in both modern chic and classic antiques. Kagome had no doubt that the antiques were true and collected over the many years the pack had existed.

The floor above this was a giant room that housed any members of the pack that wished to sleep as custom for wolves.

The walls, a dark wood, were painted with scenes in lighter colors. Each wall showed a different aspect of the wolves' life.

When entering, the wall first seen is wall of battles past. Kagome easily recognized many of the depictions.

One was of the battle against the birds of paradise. Near the floor she saw an image of herself along with Ginta and Hakkaku. She was shown ready to shoot an arrow at one of the offending birds that had just taken one of her appointed protectors.

Next to it was the picture of Sango, Kirara, a much older looking Shippo (who was helping in the fight) and finally Miroku who was painted ready to release the beads that held shut his `wind tunnel'.

A little higher up the wall was Koga fighting against the two-bodied leader of the birds of paradise. He was drawn true to self with a look of intense concentration. On his legs the painted had shaded in small semi-circles in a light pink that spiraled outwards. This was to signify where the shards of the Shikon were at the time. The circles were absent from his arm but there was drawn no wound either.

Finally at the top was a depiction of Inuyasha, red haori bright against the dark wood. His hair looked like it was wind-scattered and he held the Tetsaiga triumphantly in front of him. Yellow etched lines crossed the distance from Inuyasha to another picture of the birds of paradise leader, to signify the wind scar.

Kagome, not looking at the other battles scenes that also adorned the same wall, traced the lines of her friends' faces. They were drawn with remarkable accuracy except for Shippo.

"Shippo demanded that we make him look older and like he actually was useful." A familiar baritone devoid of any western accent explained.

Kagome turned slightly from the picture to see the true form of Koga standing in front of her.

He had changed into faded jeans that hung low on his hips and a casual, fitted blue tee that matched his eyes. He now sported the chiseled features of the proud wolf prince and his long black hair, which had grown in length since she had last saw him, was not in his trademark high ponytail but bound low at the nape of his neck.

Kagome pouted at the change of hairstyles, he had looked so good with his hair kept high. She voiced her thoughts of his new hairstyle.

"Don't' pout gorgeous. I had to start wearing it low. This much hair is a lot of weight, when I keep it at the top of my head it ends up tipping me backwards." He said trying to get her to laugh.

He was successful and found himself with Kagome slung into his arms. Koga smiled and closed his eyes.

`If only this could be forever.' He thought before he regrettably pulled back.

Koga had never taken a mate, though his pack always urged him to consider it. No woman could ever match Kagome and though he admitted defeat to ever being able to make her reciprocate any of the same emotions, he could not simply fall in love with just anyone.

An unwanted image of one of Kagome's friends, Ayumi, popped into his mind. That had been happening a lot lately and he wasn't sure he appreciated it. She was sweet and very smart but it was too risky getting into a real relationship with a human that didn't know his true identity. So he kept his distance and continued with the game of one-night stands he had begun long ago.

Kagome had moved from Koga's embrace to the next battle image.

There were a total of five images of past battles on this longer wall. She went and studied each one, outlining the familiar people and scenes.

The last scene was the final battle with Naraku. She smiled as she traced the regal image of Sesshomaru as he fought beside Inuyasha.

Koga fought with his pack and brothers against Kagura.

Shippo, again depicted older, was seen protection Kagome, who had an arrow notched and ready to shoot.

Kirara and Sango were to the right fighting some of the demon hordes and a little off was Miroku fighting as best as he could without using his `wind tunnel' due to Naraku's insects.

The anger she felt ebbed away as her tears began to flow down her cheeks. It was moments after his immanent defeat that Naraku had told Miroku the horrible news about his family's curse.

"Oh Miroku." She turned around and threw herself into his waiting arms. She had sensed him there when she first started studying this final picture.

He just allowed her to cry into his chest as he rubbed soothing circles into her lower back.

"So I take it that this is `the' Kagome."

Kagome peered around Miroku to see Seiichi playing with Sen.

"You know?" She asked curious of how much he had been told.

"Yeah, I know. It's hard to miss all the wolves and pictures around this place. Especially when you practically live here."

Kagome nodded before returned to rest her head against Miroku's chest.

"I'm still angry at you." She mumbled.

He nodded and kissed the crown of her head. A mischievous grin graced his lips. He guided her to one of the adjacent walls that pictured another part of the life of wolves.

This wall wasn't as big, seeing as the room was rectangular, but then again it showed only several pictures of one thing.

"Not all the walls are of old battles Kagome. This room is supposed to depict every aspect of the lives of wolves and more specifically this wolf pack. The battles show the history of Koga's tribe but the other walls show the everyday experiences any wolf, save lone wolves, would experience. Like one wall shows how the wolves function in the wild, how the men hunt for food and the females prepare it and other simple chores they both do. Another wall, the one opposite the battles shows the history of how the tribe survived, how they moved around and adapted to life and lastly…this wall in front of us now, my personal favorite…"

Several snorts of laughter cut into Miroku's speech allowing Kagome to turn and look at the wall.

She gasped and instantly turned beat red. The snickering turned to full-blown howls of laughter and Miroku couldn't help but join.

"You pervert! Of course this would be your favorite." She yelled.

This wall in particular was dedicated to the mating rituals of the wolf pack and showed the wolves, in both animal and humanoid forms, having sex, mostly in doggie style, though the humanoid wolves were depicted in several other positions straight out of karma sutra.

"See anything you want to try?" A husky voice whispered in her ear sending chills down her spine.

"Koga." Miroku warned as he pulled Kagome away from the teasing wolf.

"Let's go see the rest of the house. There is still another floor above this and two below ground and after that I need to take you and Sen home for dinner." He said guiding her out of the room.

* * * * *

Like I said, thanks for EVERYONE who was so kind to `review' w/ wishes of better health. Y'all are the best.

I'll try to get out the next part of this chapter (which will end up being Chapter Nine) by Friday if not sooner.

Please Read and Review. How is my writing, are the new details better or worse? Please tell me what you think it helps me improve. I would have put a lot more details in this chapter if I wasn't feeling so ill.

Thanks again ya'll!

Until Next Time…

Sfae