InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Birth Marks ❯ Welcome to the Family ( Chapter 39 )

Chapter 39: Welcome to the Family

 

Disclaimer: I have a camera and the internet, not the world! I don't own Inuyasha, got it?

 

Last time: “I have fighters for demons for guards, why demon have demon-hating guards?” she tried to hide her disgust with herself. The guard took the look for disgust against demons and nodded in approval. Calling to another guard to take his place, the guard led them to the center of town and the chief's home. Here we go, Kagome thought looking at the sprawling house.

 

This time: A shadowed figure looked out the window of his darkened high-rise office, a cup of coffee in his hands, long gone cold and stale. “It's about to happen, I can feel it.” He said, not even turning to acknowledge the woman walking into the office, a manila folder in her hands. The tall, dark-haired woman nodded, prying the cold coffee cup out of the man's hands, to replace it with the manila folder.

 

“You can sense it too then. Have you contacted Koenma's Tantei?” the man nodded, his long white hair swishing in its ponytail against his red silk shirt.

 

“He sent Yusuke to go with her. Everything's going as it's supposed to.” The woman walked behind the man and gave his shoulders a gentle squeeze of a hug.

 

“I promise we'll get her back. Even if we have to fight, we will get your mate back.” The man nodded, opening the folder to stare at the pictures that lay inside.

 

(O)

 

Kagome kneeled in front of the village's lord, trying not to fidget too much under his intense scrutiny. It seemed like hours before the lord sighed and leaned his fat girth back against a chair backing padded with lush red silks and trimmed by gold. Stroking his goatee, he eyed her body hungrily, a lustful glint in his eye. Looking anywhere but at the fat man, Kagome could feel the protective glares penetrating through her back to the lord. Surprisingly, it was Sango's glare that she felt the most intensely.

 

“You we thank for beds. Dawn we leave, yes?” Kagome looked at the lord in what she hoped would be a convincing expression. The lord's eye glinted as he leaned forward and tilted Kagome's chin up, and then to the sides, inspecting her face. She swallowed a growl, trying to resist spitting on their host's grotesque face.

 

“Hmm… I haven't had dinner yet, why don't you stay and… pour my saké?” Kagome caught the dangerous tone of his voice and nodded quickly.

 

“Servants sleep now, yes?” she put on her innocent eyes, “prepare mistress' bed, yes?”

 

The lord looked around at the row of guards that sat behind her, Inuyasha and Yusuke flanked her immediately behind, and the others made a respectful line behind the three. His eye landed on Sango, kneeling to Kagome's far left. “You two will accompany me tonight. The rest of you, go!” at his blatant dismissal, Miroku gave Sango a worried glance and stood up with the other boys. Sango shot back a reassuring glance and stepped up to Kagome's side and kneeled next to her. Standing up Inuyasha and Yusuke loomed behind Kagome, glaring at the lord. The lord glanced at the two left and narrowed his eyes. “No guards, just girls. Leave.” He waved the two off. Yusuke stepped closer and sat down the same distance from the lord that Kagome was, instead of at her flank.

 

“Brother stay, he no talk!” Kagome quickly did an illusion on Yusuke's mouth and pried open his jaws for the lord to see. Indeed, there was no tongue in Yusuke's mouth anymore. Shooting her a peeved look, Yusuke snapped his jaws shut and crossed his arms. He could still feel his tongue, but it was like his tongue was not there at the same time. The lord seemed to contemplate for a moment, fingering his goatee. Looking over Yusuke's lithe body, he concluded that the boy would be no trouble.

 

“He can stay, but once he does something, I'm warning you right now,” he looked at Kagome intensely, “you will all be tried and convicted as demons.” Bowing her head, she seemed to agree with his ruling. Sitting back, the lord gave a satisfied smile. “Guard goes though.” Inuyasha stood up, hand on his sword, threatening to pull it on the lord.

 

Kagome placed a hand on Inuyasha's leg. “Play along,” She whispered under her breath while her head was still bowed, just loud enough to hear with demon-inu hearing. Letting go of the sword with a huff, Inuyasha stuffed his arms up his copious sleeves and stalked to the back of the room to follow the others to their sleeping quarters for the night.

 

Outside, the others were met with a guard holding a pike painted red to look like bloodstains. Looking back at where he was leaving Kagome, Inuyasha huffed and crossed his arms, following at the back, his invisible ears pointed backward to detect any sound. “This way,” the guard growled out, thumping Inuyasha's calves with the blunt end of his pike. Inuyasha growled and restrained himself from hitting the guard back.

 

Inside the room, the lord waited until he could no longer hear the guards' footsteps before turning his lecherous grin on the two women, completely ignoring the `brother.' Clapping twice, three bruised women walked inside, carrying food trays. Their kimono were tied shut barely, reminding Kagome of what she had heard about the old brothels, with their obi tied in front in a simple knot. Two of them silently nudged a third to walk up to the lord, while they set trays in front of the two girls, giving them pleading looks. The third squealed, trying to get away from the lord, who had grabbed the lose ends of her obi and had pulled her close enough to lick the side of her neck. Letting go, the girl fell backwards and scooted almost halfway out the room before standing up by the other two. The three kneeled and bowed in unison before shutting the shoji and leaving.

 

Peeved at not getting any food, Yusuke grabbed a bit of everything off of Kagome's tray. “Brother test poison, good?” Yusuke nodded, both knowing that there were no poisons in the food because Kagome had smelled it when it was sat down. “Brother test guard also?” Sango didn't say anything to object, trying not to give in to hurting the lord for his unfair treatment to women.

 

Holding up his saké cup, the lord waited for Kagome to stand up and pour before attempting to grab her around the waste. Kagome poured the saké grudgingly and turned away before he could grab her like he had the other girl. `Don't you dare,' she thought, trying to restrain herself from leaving immediately, or something more violent. The meal was taken in silence, the girls resisting or ignoring any advance that the lord made, while the lord became angry with the girls.

 

After the meal trays were taken away by the same girls, Kagome spoke up, “bed now, yes?” The lord didn't smile, but waved them off. The same guard from earlier came and led them to the others. Leaving the girls and Yusuke outside the room, Kagome slid back the shoji, only to be tackled by an enthusiastic Shippou in his `human' form.

 

“Momma, you're back!” Kagome nodded and attempted to smile as she ruffled his hair, but the emotion was lost in her worried expression. Sitting down, Kagome pulled Shippou into her lap and draped her arms around his shoulders and rested her forehead on his left one.

 

“We're leaving before dawn.” She mumbled, closing her eyes and seeming to fall asleep.

 

“If only he was…!” Yusuke shook his fist, his eyes nearly glowing.

 

“Yusuke,” Kagome mumbled, “sometimes humans can be worse than demons, you have to remember that here. The rules of the game are different.” Sitting down roughly, Yusuke crossed his arms and leaned against a wall, closing his eyes.

 

“Imagine if Kuwabara was here, the dope'd go after `im either way!” Kagome laughed a little, knowing that the tall carrot top would actually follow through.

 

“We can't win them all,” Sango commented from next to Miroku, “and we are trying to have a low profile for once also.”

 

“This is his home, and we can't hurt him without being hurt ourselves. There are eight of us, and the entire palace at the lord's side. We don't want a reputation of murderers following us everywhere, if we're not killed in the process. It's best we sleep and leave early tomorrow.” Everyone agreed with Kagome, claiming futons. Miroku and Sango created a double futon before lying down in each other's arms while Yusuke grabbed the end one and pulled it practically to the wall before lying down, facing the wall. Kagome lied down on one empty futon, Shippou in her arms. Kohaku pulled his futon away from the others also, still wary of where his place was in the small group of travelers.

 

A short while later, Inuyasha pulled his futon next to Kagome's when the others were asleep. With half-open eyes, Kagome smiled at the male hanyou. “Tomorrow,” she whispered, hugging Shippou softly. Inuyasha nodded and brushed a braid out of Kagome's eyes.

 

“We'll leave before dawn.” Inuyasha reminded her before lying down. His invisible ears swiveled, catching various noises such as the chink of metal falling against more metal. A strange sound at that time of the night, Inuyasha tried to pass it off as the changing of the guards around the estate.

 

(O)

 

Sometime in the middle of the night, a hand covered Kagome's mouth and her first instinct was to scream. Opening her eyes, she saw the lord's ugly mug hovering over her face with his finger over his grotesque lips, signaling her to be quiet. “Scream and the guards surrounding this room will kill all of your friends.” Nodding, she hid her prod of Inuyasha's leg with her foot. Inuyasha nodded slightly, signaling that he was already awake. “Now get up.” The lord growled, pulling her to her feet roughly. Kagome pretended to struggle, making enough noise for the others to wake from their light slumber. Miroku looked at Sango, who nodded slightly.

 

Sitting up, Sango yawned and rubbed her eyes, stretching Sango `spotted' the lord taking Kagome roughly by the arm, “Kagome-sama, where are you going at this time of night?”

 

The lord squeezed Kagome's arm warningly and she gave an exaggerated wince, “I go to lord, he speak to me. Sleep now.”

 

“No, she comes with us also,” the lord gestured for another guard to grab Sango, leading her off to follow after Kagome and the lord.

 

Watching the shoji close, Inuyasha sat up and listened as the other guards filed away from the surrounding rooms and hallway. Looking at the others, he quickly realized that none of them but Kagome and Shippou had actually fallen asleep. Nodding at the others, he quietly gathered his sword and the others followed suit with their various weapons. Tapping Shippou on the nose, he immediately woke up, knowing from past experience to be quiet. “The girls have been taken,” Inuyasha quickly brought Shippou up to speed and he nodded, tying Kagome's dagger onto his hip. Sliding the shoji door open quietly, Inuyasha took a tentative sniff and looked around. Signaling that the coast was clear, Inuyasha walked out into the hallway as quietly as he could, the others following suit.

 

(O)

 

“Where me take?” Kagome asked, faking trying to get away.

 

“You,” the lord licked his chops, “are going to pay for your stay tonight. And possibly your safe release tomorrow if you satisfy me well enough better than these mongrel wenches, hanyou.” Kagome gasped audibly, doubling her struggles to get away from the lord's suddenly stronger grasp. With her quickened breathing, Kagome picked up the stench of the lord, as well as the underlying stench of low-class demon. Growling, Kagome planted her feet and lashed out, spinning out of his grasp and into a defensive position, her hands raised to use her claws. The lord grabbed his arm, pulling away and licking the blood off his fingers. Grinning, the lord leaned in and grabbed her wrist again with his bloodied hand, “I wouldn't do that if I were you… Demon! Demon in the house!” The lord yelled, pinning Kagome against his chest. She bucked, catching his thigh with her claws as she spun and leapt away from the lord. Taking her cue, Sango jammed her elbow into her captor's face, feeling the flesh of his nose turn to sponge as it broke. Nodding at each other as the alarm was raised, the two girls ran.

 

(O)

 

The group—minus the girls—crept along the walls of the castle, their hands hovering over various weapons to attack if necessary. Peering around a corner, Inuyasha sniffed at Kagome's trail, following it easily. Seeing a clear hallway, he gestured for the others to follow as he turned the corner. “Demon! Demon in the house!” the cry went out from the next hallway over and the group drew their weapons and ran, caution be damned, toward where they now knew the girls were. Warning bells started to ring as they met up with Kagome and Sango, running the opposite direction as the boys on the other side of a courtyard. Leaping over the railing, the groups met and Sango whistled for Kilala. The cat transformed, breaking Kagome's glamour spell in the process.

 

Waiting for the humans to climb on Kilala, the others formed a temporary protective circle as they watched as guards flooded in from every hallway, converging around the courtyard that the group stood in. With a sharp whistle, Kilala took to the air with the others leaping to the rooftops and over the outer wall soon after. They dodged arrows from the watchtowers, ducking out of the way and batting most of them away. One struck Kagome in the thigh and before she could cry out, Inuyasha snapped the shaft and lifted her, running effortlessly after the others.

 

“Klutz.”

 

“Baka.” They exchanged their unique form of thanks and Inuyasha landed briefly before leaping after the others among the treetops.

 

“Let's get as far away as we can before sunrise, ok?” Kagome suggested. Nodding, Inuyasha set his lips in a grim line as he sped up to take the lead.

 

“Follow me,” he called back, turning away from the forest path they were following and deeper into the woods. Zigzagging slightly, Inuyasha seemed to be looking for something as he turned his head and ears this way and that, trying to find whatever he was looking for. After a time, he sat Kagome down by a small stream and waited for the others to arrive. “We won't make it back to the village by daybreak, so this will have to do,” Inuyasha muttered, kneeling next to Kagome and untying her obi.

 

“Wh-what are you doing?” Kagome asked, batting away Inuyasha's hands.

 

Giving her an impatient look, Inuyasha finished untying the obi and set it aside carefully. “Getting that arrowhead out before you heal over it,” he mumbled, untying the bottom half of her kimono, barely hiding his blush behind his hair. Making sure that her haori covered her somewhat decently, Inuyasha gently poked where the arrow had embedded her thigh, earning a painful hiss from the other hanyou.

 

Lying back, Kagome clenched her fists and laid one of her forearms over her eyes to block out the pain, “just make it fast.” Nodding, Inuyasha dug his claws into her thigh and extracted the arrowhead. Putting it aside, Inuyasha looked at Kagome's face briefly before bending his face down over the wound. Licking it gently, he cleaned up the blood and used his canine saliva to disinfect the wound.

 

“Oh-ho-ho. We leave you two for a few moments, and you start to undress Kagome-sama!” Inuyasha turned and growled at the monk, his eyes flashing briefly. Miroku grinned, ignoring the death threats that were coming his direction from the hanyou. Suddenly meeting the ground, Miroku looked up to see Sango walking toward Kagome and kneeling beside her, settling her Hiraikotsu back onto her back. His face met the ground a second time as Shippou stepped on his head as a springboard to Kagome.

 

“Okaa!” Inuyasha thumped Shippou on the head before he could pounce Kagome and possibly injure her with his temporarily larger size. When would the kit learn not to pounce on others?

 

“I guess we don't need the glamour spell anymore, ne?” Kagome propped herself up on her elbows, even though Inuyasha pressed her shoulder to try to keep her lying down. “Inuyasha, I'm fine. `Tis but a flesh wound' Mr. I-get-gutted-and-still-fight.” She grumbled, releasing the spell. Shivering, Miroku felt the magic as it swept back into Kagome's body. Sitting up, Kagome scooped up Shippou and gave the kit a hug. “Ohayo, my son, are you ready for today?” she asked, snuggling Shippou with her cheek. In one swift movement, Kagome plucked the round earring from Inuyasha's hanyou ear and dropped it on the ground. Kneeling down, she tapped the disc with one of her claws and it transformed back into her bag. Grabbing her hakama out of the bag, she stuffed the carefully folded obi and kimono skirt into the top, tying the bag shut once more. Tapping a snap on one of the smaller pockets, the bag reverted to the earring once again.

 

Practically yanking his earring out of his ear, Yusuke glared at his once-duffle-bag and attempted to transform it back into its normal form. “You have to tap it in a certain way, Yusuke, so just put it back on for now.” Kagome advised, finishing tying her hakama together. Holding the earring up to Inuyasha, he shook his head, retreating to the other side of the clearing. Kagome huffed, poking the backing through the fabric of her haori so it would be secure.

 

Snorting at Kagome's stubbornness at forgetting her pain, Inuyasha jerked his head off to the side. “This way,” touching a cliff face that bordered one side of the clearing, he pushed aside the foliage to expose a small cave entrance. “I hid here as a pup, it gets bigger further back,” he offered up, holding the vines out of the way to allow the others to crawl through the rough-hewn hole. Leading, Kagome traced one of the claw marks on the wall before crawling ahead. She sat back, rubbing her puncture wound when she had enough head room to do so.

 

“Shippou, do you think you can give us some light?” nodding, the kitsune bound around Kagome and around a corner. Orbs of Kitsune-bi surrounded him and cast an eerie glow in the tunnel, deepening the shadows formed by the claw marks that formed the tunnel.

 

“Ooh, `Kaa! Come and see! Come and see!” Shippou raced back around the corner and tugged on Kagome's arm, running back to the turn and crouching down.

 

“Okay, I'm coming.” Kagome laughed, seeing Shippou crouch in the bend and look between her and what was ahead. “Are we near the cave?” Shippou nodded and as soon as Kagome reached the turn, she saw the entrance to the cave that Shippou sat near. His fire reached out, barely touching the opposite wall with its light. Standing up inside the cave, Kagome saw a pinprick of light above. A smoke hole on top of the cliff was probably the natural entrance.

 

“The tunnel was there before I found this, but I finished making it big enough to crawl in while I was here.” Inuyasha looked at his claws before picking his way across the darkened floor, stacking some old wood and starting a small fire to light the cave.

 

“Cozy,” Sango commented, one hand on the cave wall, tracing the perimeter. The cave was barely ten paces across in the main area, with small fissures and holes leading in different directions. Nearly falling in, Sango discovered a small cave pond that took up a good third of the room. Getting the fire lit, the room turned a warm golden color.

 

“The water tastes a little strange, but it's drinkable,” Inuyasha commented, sitting with his back against the wall. “Is this good enough for what you planned?” Kagome nodded, staring up at the smoke hole and the small amount of pre-dawn light that she could see beyond.

 

“Yeah, we're not going to be able to move much today because of the ceremony.” Unhooking the earring from her haori, Kagome transformed it and pulled out her sleeping bag. Setting the bag by the entrance, she unzipped it completely and set it down over the sandy surface of the cave floor. “But I'm not worried because we have plenty of protection, right Kohaku?” Kagome smiled gently at the boy sitting in the entrance with his foot propped up on the tunnel's wall. Kohaku looked at Kagome in something akin to shock before blushing and turning his head away.

 

Sitting in the center of the sleeping bag, Kagome set out a ceremonial dagger and a length of white cloth with symbols stitched along the entire length down the center in black and red stitches. “Miroku, will you help me with the beginning of the ceremony? I'll need you to tie our wrists together securely and quickly when I tell you to, can you do that for me?” Miroku nodded and kneeled closer, picking up one end of the white fabric and inspecting the foreign symbols.

 

Gesturing to Shippou, the kit scampered over to sit in Kagome's lap comfortably. “I'm sorry, but this might hurt a little in the beginning, okay?” Shippou nodded and Kagome smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. Turning to Inuyasha, she smiled, “can you hold me while the sun comes up?” breathing in her scent, Inuyasha nodded and pulled Kagome into his lap sideways, so that she could lean into his embrace. Closing her eyes briefly, kagome turned her look onto her cousin. “In stead of my late father and head of the family, do you give permission for this kitsune to be adopted?” she asked, barely containing a grin at the ritual question.

 

“In stead of your late father, and by proxy of the family head, I give permission for this adoption.” Yusuke smirked, “and you'd better give your ma the respect she deserves.” Shippou nodded, getting comfortable. Smirking back at Yusuke, Kagome closed her eyes and tilted her head back to the hole in the cave roof as her blood turned to fire. Breathing deeply as the sun peeked over the horizon outside, Kagome tilted her head back down.

 

With her eyes glowing, her blood charged with demonic power, Kagome grabbed the knife and slashed both hers and Shippou's wrists before pressing them together tightly. “Miroku!” the monk moved quickly, tying the smaller wrist to the larger as the symbols of the cloth started glowing, absorbing the blood that leaked between the two wrists. Tying a secure knot, Miroku leaned back and watched the cloth slowly turn the color of fresh blood. Breathing deeply, Kagome held Shippou tightly and started muttering. The symbols on the cloth glowed and projected themselves out, forming a cocoon of golden letters around both their upper arms as the cloth turned an almost brilliant white. The blood soaked into the cloth was pulled into the symbols and projected into the cocoon also, turning their entire forearms red with blood. The cocoon settled so that the entire ceremony appeared as if they had only tied their arms together with a white cloth.

 

“And now we wait.” Kagome leaned into Inuyasha, her breath shallower than normal, as well as her skin slightly paler as the glow of transformation settled into her skin. During the process, Shippou had passed out, losing as much blood as Kagome, but in a smaller body. Stroking Shippou's bangs, she kissed his forehead and checked for the pulse in his neck. It was shallow, but she could feel it quickly recovering to the healthy beat of slumber.

 

“Lady Kagome, if I may ask,” Miroku leaned forward, his hand barely touching the white cloth that bound both hers and Shippou's wrists, “what is this?”

 

Leaning into Inuyasha, Kagome gave a yawn before touching the white cloth. “It's a prayer ribbon. I had to make the entire thing by hand, so that's why it looks so simple.” The cloth indeed had lumps and gaps in the weave where the yarn used wasn't made correctly. Grinning, Kagome laughed at herself, “at least I know that I'm never going to make cloth professionally! And I don't even want to tell you how many times I stabbed myself trying to embroider the spell into the thing! The string that I used was actually as white as the yarn I made if that gives you any clue.”

 

“Yeah, you're about as good as my mom when it comes to homemaking!” Yusuke laughed, leaning back against the cave wall, his hands pillowing his head.

 

“Hmm,” Kagome gave him a sly look, “speaking of which, don't you owe me a dinner, chef Yusuke?”

 

Yusuke turned his head away, staring at the light peeking through the roof, “Feh, it's just lucky for me that the runt's asleep now, or he'd never let up on me in the future.” It was a fact that he hid well, but he actually enjoyed cooking, since it was learn or starve when he was younger. The talent he rarely ever allowed the others to know about. The Yukimura's, Keiko's parents, actually had once offered him a job when he was younger because of his talent with a knife. Looking at Kagome out of the corner of his eye, Yusuke huffed, “we'll see how things are when we get home.”

 

“You mean when you get home. This is where I live most of the time, and this is my second family Yusuke. Home, to me, is on either side of the well.” Yusuke shrugged and accepted Kagome's correction. Inuyasha stood up and moved to the wall next to the fire, taking Kagome with him. He settled Kagome back into his lap and leaned back, his arms wrapped around Kagome's waist. “You don't have to hold me anymore if you don't…“ Inuyasha's soft growl cut off her train of thought as he nipped her ear. Yipping a small apology, Kagome licked Inuyasha's chin to signify her subservience. Cutting off another yawn, Kagome leaned back into Inuyasha, closing her eyes. It was strange, she felt the burn of the demonic energy in her veins, but she was tired also, as if Shippou was taking all of her energy into himself.

 

“Sleep,” Inuyasha murmured, nipping the shell of her ear, “I'll wake you up if anything happens.” The last thing she could remember was feeling the pulse of the bandage before sinking into oblivion.

 

“Is that normal?” Sango asked, moving closer to inspect Kagome's vital signs.

 

“She's fine,” Inuyasha turned away slightly to shield Kagome's vulnerability.

 

“Kags told me a little about this the other day,” Yusuke spoke up from where he appeared to be asleep also, “it's a symbolic pregnancy or something. All I know is that they're stuck like that until the runt's body sees her blood as his mother's. We might be stuck here a while, so get comfortable.” Shifting his shoulders from where they were getting jabbed by a stray rock, Yusuke settled into the cave wall more comfortably. Nodding, Sango un-strapped her Hiraikotsu and started polishing it with a cloth from her small bag. Miroku settled by the water to meditate and Kilala laid down practically in the fire and started kitty-snoring.

 

(O)

 

`If this is what a real pregnancy is like, I quit,' was the first thought that flashed though Kagome's mind as her stomach clenched with a wave of severe nausea. Letting out a small groan, Kagome clutched her stomach and curled inward around Shippou. Settling her nose into the kit's hair, the wave passed to a sense of her mouth being full of cotton instead.

 

“The others ate a while back, but there's some stew left and that might settle your stomach.” A soft voice came from the other end of the cave and Kagome turned her head toward it. Kohaku stood awkwardly, digging his toe into the sand.

 

“I'll pass on the stew, but I'll take some water if there's any.” Kagome smiled at he nervous boy as he hurried to do as he was asked. Sitting up from where she laid on her sleeping bag, Kagome looked around at the virtually empty cave. “Where is everyone?”

 

“After a couple of hours, your mate and clan brother started arguing, so they went outside so that they wouldn't disturb you. The Monk and Sango-nee followed soon after to get some sunlight. Kilala is at the entrance of the cave, keeping watch.” Kagome nodded and took the water bottle that Kohaku offered and sipped. After a few moments, Kagome noticed that the boy hadn't moved from when he gave Kagome the water bottle, but instead went back to digging his toe into her sleeping bag.

 

“Yes? Is there something you want to ask Kohaku-kun?”

 

“Aa…Iie…” Kohaku mumbled, kneeling in front of Kagome. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Shippou, “I've never seen a youkai adoption ceremony before, but I've heard of them. Thank you for allowing me to be present during your ceremony.” The boy bowed deeply, his nose nearly touching the ground.

 

“Do you want to see closer?” holding Shippou cradled in her arms so the bandage wouldn't be disturbed, she held him for Kohaku to see easier. During the time that Kagome and Shippou were asleep, the kit's coloring and features had changed. His hair became streaked with white, as had his tail, lightening his overall coloring from its rusty hue. His ears had also changed, becoming large white fox ears perched on top of his head. Stroking a relatively large ear, Kagome smiled. “He'll grow into them… hopefully.” The ears weren't garishly large, but they were definitely one of his most noticeable attributes at the moment.

 

Touching one of Shippou's ears tentatively, Kohaku spoke up, “your mate's coloring looks like it's dominant.”

 

“That's because it is. Any biological pups will have his coloring too, most likely. There's also some pale coloring in my bloodline also, so that might be affecting him also.” Closing her eyes, she felt the surrogate connection between them as it pulsed with the exchange of blood. The pulse was weaker from what it had been earlier, signifying the lessening of resistance between bloods. “What time is it?”

 

“Mid-afternoon, Kagome-sama, you have been asleep most of the day.” Nodding, Kagome looked up at the hole in the cave and from the light, it seemed later than that.

 

“Then only a few hours left. Sometime during the night, the ceremony will be complete.” Settling back down, Kagome closed her eyes and drifted, once again, into sleep.

 

(O)

 

Swiping with her free claws, Kagome batted away the annoyance that was stroking her face. Grimacing at the smell of roasting meat in such a confined area, Kagome rolled away and sat up. “Good, you're awake, Kagome-chan,” Sango exclaimed, walking over from where she was sitting by the fire, “you've been shaking for a while now.”

 

“Uhm?” Kagome groaned, holding her head with her free hand and Shippou with her tied hand. The kit was definitely larger than earlier that afternoon, his coloring completely white and his tail smoothed out from the puff-ball it used to be. Kagome felt exhausted, as if she had been running the entire day with a weight on her back… how did Inuyasha do it? “What time is it?”

 

“Nearly sunset,” Inuyasha supplied almost instantly. His face was turned upward, watching the hole in the roof of the cave intently. A moment later, Kagome felt it: the shift of her demonic energies from humanoid to her canine form. Looking down, the glow from her core spread to Shippou also, beginning his transformation. Trying to stand up, Kagome collapsed onto her hand and knees, bracing against having Shippou hurt. Dry-heaving, Kagome held Shippou tightly as the transformations took hold. As the sunlight in the cave faded, the smoke and light faded also, leaving a black dog demoness standing over a smaller white fox demon that was still unconscious. Lying down heavily, Kagome nudged Shippou with her nose, then laid her head protectively over his body.

 

The fox shifted slightly, his pulse changing pace to indicate wakefulness. Sitting down from where he was standing warily next to Kagome, Inuyasha stroked Kagome's head in a sympathetic manner. The bandaging around Kagome's and Shippou's arms pulsed and pulled, the black and red lettering reappearing on the ribbon. Licking Shippou's face, Kagome grabbed the bandage tenderly and started to rip through the knot.

 

Tapping Kagome's muzzle away, Inuyasha took the knot and shredded it with his claws. Slowly, he started to unwind the length of cloth. Giving an encouraging growl and nudge, Kagome watched as Inuyasha finished unwrapping hers and Shippou's arms. With the last of the cloth out of the way, Kagome licked off the remaining traces of blood from that morning, revealing nothing but a jagged-looking mark that matched on their arms. The identical scars shimmered in the firelight, the fur around that area refusing to grow over the markings.

 

Giving a canine grin, Kagome settled her muzzle over Shippou's awake and alert body, pinning him to the spot for the remainder of the night. She would deal with his new energy come morning; right now it was time to sleep.

 

“Welcome to the family runt,” Yusuke murmured, watching the family settle in for the night.

 

(O)

 

I'll just say that I'm not too happy with this chapter, but I don't really know what to do without writing the entire thing again. There was no action, no real meaning, and the main character was sleeping most of the chapter! Hmm, is it possible to flame myself? At least I'm one step closer to the new arc! Later, Dark