InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ As Fate Would Have It ❯ Chapter 18

Chapter 18

 

“If I didn't know better, I'd swear I was dreaming.”

 

Inuyasha opened his eyes. The first thing that he realized was that he had fallen asleep- something he rarely ever did. And never that deeply. Secondly, he was naked with his arms around a sleeping Kagome, who was also similarly nude. His fire-rat haori covered them both somewhat, yet it was obvious what they had been doing under Goshinboku.

 

Third, Kikyou was standing a few yards away, gazing at the couple with her usual impassive features. Her brown eyes held a mixture of disgust, shock, and a trace of anger. Or was it jealousy?

 

Inuyasha didn't have time to really dwell on it as he reached over and grasped Tetsusaiga, ready to wield it against his former love if she should threaten Kagome or his pups. He really wasn't dressed for battle (or at all, for that matter) but he was willing to do anything to protect them, should Kikyou's intent be malicious.

 

“What do you want, Kikyou?” he asked warily, soft enough to not wake Kagome.

 

The dead miko's Shinidamachuu floated around her as she gazed down at him. “I merely wanted to see if my suspicions were true.”

 

“What suspicions?”

 

She blinked slowly. “That you and my reincarnation had mated.” She smiled almost wistfully. “Not only that, but created two new lives in the process.”

 

Inuyasha's grip on the Tetsusaiga's hilt tightened. “What the hell do you know about my pups?”

 

“Only that the miko's blood runs true. Your pups would carry youkai blood as well as miko's blood. The two should not be able to mix and create new life. However, in this case, her pure powers seem to have overridden your tainted hanyou blood.”

 

Inuyasha stared at her. “What?! You mean… that my pups are completely human?”

 

Kikyou smirked. “Disappointed, Inuyasha? Welcome to my existence. I experience it every day. Now, it is your turn.”

 

She turned and sedately walked away, her Shinidamachuu following in her wake.

 

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Kagome yawned, stretching. She noticed that Inuyasha was no longer curled up by her side. She sat up, clutching his haori to her chest.

 

“Inuyasha?” she whispered as her brown eyes found him staring up at the spot where he had been pinned for fifty years. He was dressed in his hakama and cream under-shirt, Tetsusaiga resting against his hip. He turned at the sound of his name.

 

“Kagome, you're awake.” His golden eyes shone with love for her, yet she could also see sadness in the amber orbs. Why was he sad?

 

She smiled hesitantly. “G-gomen… I didn't mean to sleep for so long.” She reached over and grabbed her clothes, quickly getting dressed.

 

She stood up, handing the fire-rat haori to her mate. “Arigatou.”

 

Inuyasha hopped down from the root he had been standing on, landing in front of Kagome. He stared into her eyes as he gently took the haori from her hand.

 

Kagome could tell there was something bothering him. “What is it, Inuyasha?”

 

He remained silent for a long time. Swiftly donning his haori, he began walking away.

 

“Inuyasha?”

 

The hanyou turned around, his usual expression returned. “Oi, wench! We need to get back to Kaede's! I don't want that old hag filling my pup's head with nonsense!”

 

Kagome smiled. Whatever had been bothering him was gone now. He was back to his gruff, ornery self again.

 

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Minako squealed as Inuyasha swept into the hut and scooped the little girl into his arms. “Baka papa!”

 

The hanyou rolled his eyes. “You need to teach my pup how to properly address her papa!” he grumped to the girl leaning against the doorway of the hut.

 

Kagome gave him a look of unconcern. “She is addressing you properly.”

 

“Mouthy wench!”

 

“I'm carrying twin hanyou babies and taking care of Minako too! I can be just as mouthy as I want to be!”

 

Instead of retorting as usual, Inuyasha blinked and turned away, leaving her staring at his back in confusion, the playful moment evaporating.

 

“Inuyasha? What's wrong?” She stepped up behind him and placed a loving hand on his shoulder.

 

“Keh! Nothing! Just want to take my pup and get out of here.” He whirled suddenly and vanished through the doorway, leaving Kagome to stare after him in concern.

 

Kaede looked up from her usual seat by the fire-pit. “I would wager that ye know what might ail him, Kagome.”

 

The young miko slowly rubbed her swollen belly, turning her gaze back to the doorway. Her eyes grew sad.

 

“Kikyou.”

 

“Aye,” Kaede nodded. “I saw my sister's Shinidamachuu flying through the trees in Inuyasha's Forest- where, I believe, ye two were otherwise occupied?”

 

Kagome managed to both blush and look confused. “But if Kikyou had shown up, wouldn't I have known it?”

 

The old miko regarded her kettle of stew. “If ye were sleeping, would Inuyasha wake ye up to confront his previous love while ye are pregnant with his babes?”

 

Kagome blinked. “No… no, I suppose he wouldn't.”

 

“Lady Kaede! Lady Kaede!” A breathless young man burst into the hut, startling the two mikos. Kaede got to her feet as quickly as she could.

 

“What is it? What's wrong?”

 

The young man panted for breath. “Youkai… attacking the village! Inuyasha is fighting it, but… it seems like it's stronger than he is!”

 

Kagome gasped and got to her feet as well, running out the door as best she could. She grabbed her bow and quiver from their resting place outside Miroku and Sango's hut and hurried toward the sounds of crashing and swearing. A familiar feeling pulled at her as she got closer. A jewel shard! And a huge one at that! How could she have missed it?

 

“Fucking bastard! I recognize your scent!” Inuyasha yelled. Kagome tried to move faster. Minako…Minako was with Inuyasha…

 

She paused at the edge of the fields. Inuyasha was in a clearing, Tetsusaiga fully transformed in his hand. Facing the hanyou was a lethally beautiful man with long orange hair, streaked with odd black strands. I thought the man said a youkai was attacking us...

 

Looking closer at the stranger, she could see the pointed ears and claw-tipped fingers. She moved closer, looking for the shards that she knew he had to have.

 

Inuyasha finally noticed that Kagome had shown up. “Kagome, no! Stay back!”

 

Kagome turned to look at him. “He's got jewel shards, Inuyasha!”

 

“No shit!”

 

She blinked. Well, par-don her. She nocked an arrow and took aim at the orange-haired stranger. “Then I'll just get them myself!”

 

The youkai turned toward her, his unnaturally orange eyes unblinking. “This Toramaru does not think so, ningen.” His voice was almost a purr, soft and velvety.

 

A dark green diamond-shape crest stood out starkly against his pale skin, with lighter green jagged-edged crests on each cheek. His orange eyes were outlined with the same light green color. Kagome gasped.

 

`This Toramaru'… He's a tai-youkai… the same as Sesshoumaru!

 

“Damn it! Your fight is with me, not the girl!” Inuyasha yelled at the tai-youkai. The orange-haired youkai regarded Inuyasha for a moment, the wind billowing his orange haori and hakama. Strange black stripes were on the edges of his sleeves and around the bottom of his hakama. He wore a single katana at his side.

 

“Indeed, half-breed. My fight is without a doubt with you.” He took a step closer to Inuyasha, who tightened his grip on the Tetsusaiga. “I will make you watch as I kill your mate and cubs, then I will finish you off.”

 

“Why? In Kami's name, why?” Kagome screamed. Inuyasha growled at her, trying to get her to shut up and run.

 

A predatory smile split his handsome face. “Because you and this abomination not only saved the atrocity that bitch and her ningen mate created, but because you are continuing the disgrace by raising it as your own.”

 

He growled, his smile now becoming a scowl. “The creatures you and this half-breed have created should never be allowed to take breath. Their foul souls should be sent to hell with all the other half-breeds!” He took a step towards Kagome, who backed up slightly, trying to control her shaking long enough to fire a purity arrow at him.

 

“You fucking bastard! Don't you ever threaten my mate or my pups!” Inuyasha roared, jumping high into the air, Tetsusaiga raised over his head. “Kaze no Kizu!”

 

He unleashed the Wind Scar on the tai-youkai, who withstood it and stared back at him in disgust. Inuyasha's jaw dropped. “How in all the hells did he survive that?”

 

Kagome pulled herself together. “It's the jewel, Inuyasha! He's got almost half of the entire Shikon no Tama!”

 

And we've got the other half…Inuyasha mulled that over in his mind. Then we'll just have to kill him and take his jewel shard.

 

But he withstood the Wind Scar. Who's to say he'll go down that easily?

 

Shaddup! I can take this puny tiger youkai. Tai-youkai or not- he's just as weak as Sesshoumaru.

 

His youkai snorted. What about Kagome? She won't leave you.

 

Inuyasha looked at the miko, who was stubbornly refusing to run. “Kagome! You need to get out of here! Now!”

 

The tiger tai-youkai lunged toward Kagome, his long claws ready to rend her apart. She screamed as she prepared herself for death. I should've listened to Inuyasha…

 

She found herself tackled and thrown to the side. Inuyasha lifted himself off her and glared down at her. “Stupid fucking wench! Next time you want to get killed, do it when you're not carrying our pups!”

 

She blinked. Our pups…he called them ours. “Where's Minako?”

 

“That worthless monk and Sango have her. Miroku is no help now without his Wind Tunnel and he refuses to let Sango fight at all. Now get your ass up and hide with them!” He jumped up and tried to lead the tiger tai-youkai away from her.

 

“Pathetic half-breed,” the tiger hissed. “I will obliterate all creatures that have spawned from youkai mating with insignificant humans.”

 

“Keh! This is one hanyou that will make you eat your words.”

 

Kagome couldn't help herself. “Why do you hate hanyous so much? What did they ever do to you?”

 

The tiger tai-youkai stalked Inuyasha, looking every inch the predatory cat. “She refused the alliance… actually refused me- Toramaru, the Tora no Taishou of the Eastern Lands! She denied me the chance to rule two Lands so that she could be with her ningen love!”

 

Kagome gasped as the pieces fell into place. Kasumi. Kouga's sister, who had disappeared from the mountains. He had said she was being trained as an Alpha female for another pack- she had thought he meant wolf pack. What if it had been for a tiger tribe?

 

“We had killed off that bitch and then went after her lover, whom she actually had the audacity to call mate, and we thought we had slain him as well- him and that filth they created. It should have died with him!” Toramaru hissed.

 

Inuyasha's eyes were hidden by his bangs as the tiger circled him. When he looked up, his eyes were crimson and his fangs had lengthened, hanging over his bottom lip. The lavender crests on his cheeks began to glow, pulsing like a heartbeat. When he spoke, his voice was deep and gravelly.

 

“Do not call my pup `filth,'” he growled. Toramaru looked briefly surprised, but then the lethal smile was back.

 

“You are the same as her- forsaking the youkai blood for a ningen!” He laughed, loud and cruel. “Then you shall die the same as her as well!”

 

The tiger tai-youkai's eyes shifted colors as the wind blew around him. His body began to grow and lengthen as his face became more feline.

 

Soon, a huge tiger loomed over the hanyou and his mate. The stripes on his cheeks were the same light green as in his other form and the dark green diamond-shape crest was evident on his forehead. His size was near unto Sesshoumaru's when he had transformed in their father's grave.

 

Something caught Kagome's eye. “Inuyasha! The chunk of shard is in the center of the diamond crest on his forehead!”

 

Figures, Inuyasha thought wryly. He tightened his hands around the Tetsusaiga and growled at the huge tiger. “Damn tiger. You're in the way.”

 

-You are the one in the way, hanyou. In the way of purebloods!-

 

Kagome blinked. Toramaru was talking inside their minds! She could only watch in fear and horror as her mate, now almost completely transformed, and the giant tiger tai-youkai slashed and sliced at each other in a fierce battle.

 

A sudden gust of wind almost pushed her forward. She turned around to see the source and was completely speechless as she saw who had appeared behind her.

 

It was Sesshoumaru, Inu no Taishou of the Western Lands. And walking at his side, slightly behind him was Kagura, mistress of the Winds.