InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ different shades of black ❯ esoteric tea ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: *clears throat* I DON'T OWN INUBASHA!....*curtseys* thank you. *lawyer comes up and whispers in ear* InuBasha?...er… you caught that, eh? What? It's Inuyasha?... hehe, I guess I don't own him either. *shrugs* can't blame a girl for trying, right? :D *lawyer whispers again in ear* oh, you CAN blame a girl for trying….oh,…ok then! *wink*

Shout outs: Thanks to all my faithful reviewers on both AF.net and MM.org for the reviews, whether posted or via email! Apparently media miners is being weird and not allowing some posts, so please review if you want by just emailing me at: diff_shades_of_back@yahoo.ca. THANKS! :D you guys have helped me want to continue! *hugs*

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**** Saturday (The next day) ****

*Sango*

Sango was in a lot of pain from the previous nights, exercises.

Master Myoga had put her through a rigorous, re-training session. And when Kohaku phoned saying he was staying the night at a friends, they trained through to the morning. She had finally trudged into bed, sore, at around 5am.

And she slept through the excited phone call that Myoga had with someone around 1pm

And was still asleep around 3pm, when Kagome phoned for her.

She finally got up at 4pm. Showered off the dried-sticky sweat from the night before, and had a very large meal for the 2 she had missed, while sleeping ==Kami! Now I won't be able to sleep tonight. ==

After getting her message from Kagome that her uncle Myoga had written down on a yellow sticky-it note, she phoned her and left to meet up with her and the rest of her now close group of friends, for the evening.

*Kagome*

Kagome had gotten to bed fairly quickly after her bath. She put on her earphones, and fell asleep, after the bleeding had stopped.

She woke up at around 11am, though. Yawning, she got up and got ready. Not really ready for anything, just dressed, and set. When her morning activities, of make-up applying, music, and teasing her cat Buyo, she set about writing in her Diary. Something she hadn't done in a while. She needed to catch up. ==Boy, this going to be one long, entry== And she flipped open her black-studded diary, that she had made herself, to the first blank page and put pen to paper

==where to start? Ah! "Damn, Diary... This is what has happened since my life turned up side down. Both good and bad shit has happened. Mostly bad. The only thing that HAS turned out good is silver and black…"==

After finishing her Diary entry, an hour later, which had a lot of coordinating pictures, and poetry, she closed the book, and decided to do something useful.

She worked on some of her exercises Miroku had taught her to do daily, but got tired of them quickly, but still forced herself to finish them.

Around 3pm, she walked downstairs, and realized her family was still not home, she decided to start making dinner, before the phone rang.

"Hello Higurashi shrine! How may I help you?" Kagome said in a forced-happy tone. "Kagome? It's me, Miroku. Listen, I got some good news. And I want to talk about some crap with everybody. Mind if we all meet up?"

Kagome looked over at the clock on the wall. She knew of her family wasn't home by know, they wouldn't be surprised if she left with out waiting to say hello-goodbye first.

"Yeah no problem. Was about to start some dinner, but I'm not hungry anyways"

Miroku knew from what Inuyasha and Sango had told him that she wasn't eating well. "Er… no no, cause, um, I'm hungry, and I'm sure Inuyasha will be. Let meet up somewhere for dinner? How about Inuyasha's place? He never has food, and I'm sure he'll be glad to see some groceries. I'll bring the food. Can you cook?"

Kagome laughed at the classic male reasoning on food. Her brother was the same way. Always wanting food, but too lazy to go buy some, and was clueless to cooking it. "Yeah, cooking I can do…"

The two talked a bit more about specifics, and what was to be made for dinner, and then hung up with final comments on who was arranging what.

Kagome clicked the receiver with her finger then typed in Sango's number, who was not home, but she left a message with her uncle.

*Miroku*

Miroku had stayed up all night, staring at his ceiling. Lost in a million thoughts, which somehow always came back to Sango.

He had perfected the ceiling-image technique, that he had taught Kagome, and had pictured Sango more then a few times, but quickly let the image fade, knowing that it wasn't right to tease himself like that. His thoughts then would go back to Naraku, and what the hell he was up to.

Around 3am he got up and made a few across-seas phone calls, to some friends he had in Japan. He wanted to know what Naraku was doing over in the Eastern hemisphere, and if he had made anymore appearances over there.

He phoned one dojo in particular, that had been on Naraku's case since the beginning. The now-current Master, told him to phone Myoga, the old Master. Apparently, Myoga had phoned around 12am, saying that a new exterminator had been brought in to train.

Miroku had met Myoga once, but thought he was a bit nutty for a Karate master. But then again, he knew that master Myoga-chan was no ordinary karate master, and very few people knew that.

He got the number, and made a mental note to phone when it was lighter out.

He then fell back on his bed allowing sleep to over-take him for a few hours.

He woke up later in the morning, and got ready for the day. He had a lot to talk about. There was a new exterminator around, which meant more allies. Strong allies.

He left around noon, and went to talk to some people that he knew would have answers. By the time he would get back around 3, he would have a few more answers, and would have to call a meeting. But, not without pushing his best-friends limits.

*Inuyasha*

"BAKA, BAKA, BAKA! Wake up!"

Inuyasha was startled awake. He jumped from the couch he had fell asleep on during the morning, and looked like he was ready to attack the same couch.

"WH…what the hell is it? Is it Naraku? Shippou? You ok?...what the… There's nobody here Shippou!" *THUMP*

Shippou pouted, while rubbing the sore spot on the top of his head.

"Course not baka. It's the phone, Miroku is.On.The. Phone" Shippou walked away grumbling about not getting enough Pocky, and how somebody needed to take a chill pill.

Inuyasha had heard the entire mumbled argument coming from the small boy and just shook his head, and headed for the phone that was hanging on the wall unit.

"Yo, how's shit?" Inuyasha asked casually, while he cradled the phone in the crook of his neck and attempted to make coffee.

"Inuyasha? Um, we need a meeting. Kagome and Sango have been contacted. Were gonna have it at your place, ok?"

"WHAT?! Fuck no! I can't get a sitter for Shippou…"

"Don't worry about that, Yash, and anyways, the girls are already on their way. PLUS, you always think that we shouldn't keep stuff from each other… wouldn't you consider Shippou…er…'stuff' of sorts?"

"Ok, number one, don't call Shippou `stuff', Number two, I hate you Monk"

With a chuckle and a click, the line went dead.

Inuyasha set the receiver back in its holder, and stared at the dripping coffee, and groaned ==Kami. Kagome is gonna hate this! What the hell is she gonna say….or think…mental note: got the hentai to listen to the bitch's thoughts… but only tonight!==

"SHIPPOU! Get your ass in gear, and put on the cute act, NOW!"

**** Saturday Evening****

Inuyasha stood pensively behind the couch, facing the door, silently daring it to either open or make the soon-to-come knocking noise.

He had chosen his classic Goth look. He wanted them to think everything was normal before he introduced Shippou, his son, to his bitch ==wait, MY bitch. Keh, can't think about that, or like that right now.==

He was wearing a black anarchy t-shirt, and a black bondage-style cargo pants. He had tied a black ribbon in a speratic-grecian style around his right arm to the bicep, ending at the middle finger.

He finished it off with the black liner that he could put on quicker and more accurately then Kagome, and his piercings.

But he forewent the ever present top hat, since they knew what he was. No need to hide, outwardly.

When the knock finally came he was very nervous. Almost as nervous as he was when he had to tell Kagome and Sango that he was a hanyou.

But somehow that was slightly different. Things had changed between them. And how she reacted now, would affect him more. It brought back a lot of memories of him being rejected. ==what the hell am I doing. I can't worry, Kagome has to find out sooner or later, right?== a second round of knocks came, knocking him into the first step to the door.

"Who's there?" ==baka, you know who it would be, one of 3 people that would come tonight. Not even Naraku would be out for a meeting or killing spree on a Saturday night. His fat ass is probably getting fatter with beer.== he smiled at his thoughts but cringed when he heard the voice from the other side.

"Yasha? It's Kagome! Miroku told me to come here. Didn't he tell you?"

Inuyasha opened the door, looked around the hall, and pulled her inside before she could ask, what the hell he was doing.

"Yeah Miroku told me. And next time, don't mention names in the hallways. Who knows, it could be bugged, or something, got it bitch?"

Kagome rolled her eyes, and walked inside, looking around at the main room she walked into, that was part of where the front door was.

"I'm kind of surprised you have your own place, being in school and all…"

"Like I said, I'm not as young as you think I am, bitch. I've been around, and I have something called a `savings account' because of my past …er…jobs" he kinda smiled and layed down on the couch.

She walked in front of the couch to look at his face. "Well how old ARE you, dammit!"

"I told you…"

"I don't fucking care, I wanna know!"

"Fine, but grab a seat first."

Kagome sat down on a red sagging chair beside the couch, but which was angled so she could still see him. Inuyasha closed his eyes ==this is gonna be a night of my life coming undone by the seams, isn't it?==

Kagome stared at him, waiting and couldn't take the suspense. He left her hanging for a minute that seemed like an eternity. But he was waiting for her aura to calm down a little bit, so he could tell her at the best time.

"Kami, 35?"

"Nani?"

"Is that your age?, 35?"

He chuckled "um, no" he sat up and stared at her. "More like 554. I don't know the exact amount, since I don't know when my birthday is, but I know the exact amount of years"

He looked in her eyes, hoping for something. It was now her turn to wait on what the other wanted. He wanted her to yell, or smile, …no. who was he kidding. She would only yell. Or cry.

"554? But why…"

"…do I look so young? I'm a hanyou I thought you said you knew about demons, bitch. We live a lot longer then humans."

"Apparently" her face was still expressionless

"I…I won't live as long as a demon, in fact it's cut in half, since I'm only a half demon, but I still live…"

"Longer, I get it. Just drop it ok, I'm sorry I asked"

Inuyasha's ears flattened on his head, half burying them in his hair. "Yeah, you shouldn't have"

The door gave a knock then opened. Miroku standing there with his key in one hand and a brown paper bag in the other had a huge smile on his face. Sango walked in right behind him

"I brought food, and Sango….both I think are needed to live a long life" he winked at

The mentioned girl, who blushed and ran to Kagome.

"Hey San!"

"Kags!"

The girls hugged. And Sango winced badly, which all three other inhabitants of the room noticed but left it un-questioned.

"Well, Kagome-chan, would you mind helping in preparing tonight's dinner?"

Kagome laughed "I would love to Miroku-kun. What did you buy?"

"Lettuce, radishes, mushrooms, tofu, rice, sticky rice, seaweed leaves, salmon, Pocky, Ramen…."

At the mention of the last 2 foods, two voices were heard before Miroku could name anything else he had bought. "RAMEN!" "POCKY!"

But only one was recognizable to the girls

A terra cotta blur came running into the kitchen tugging on Miroku's pant leg "could I please have some Pocky, uncle Ku"

Kagome and Sango stared at the ball of fur before and slightly below them.

Miroku looked tentively at Inuyasha who sighed "After dinner, runt. You don't wanna spoil whatever Kagome is gonna make" He said and crossed his arms in front of himself.

The little boy looked at the two girls, and bowed his head with a sniff. "Ok"

He started to walk back, from whence he came, until a low growl, not at all menacing, was heard.

The boy looked at Inuyasha in confusion.

"Introduce yourself, runt"

He smiled at being allowed to stay. He wasn't sure that Inuyasha would allow him to meet the company. He thought him getting dressed up in his best play clothes, was just incase.

"hai." He went to Sango first and sniffed her "hai, my name is Shippou. How are you? Never mind, I'll find out sooner or later. Just so you know, I'm the best of the boys, meaning of uncle Ku and Dad. If you want someone to take them out for you, lady, let me know. I'm the mad for the job…"

The boy rambled on to Sango about how tough he was for a bit. But at the mention of "dad" Kagome's head bolted up to look at Inuyasha. He could feel her gaze, but refused to make eye contact with her. He didn't want to see another emotionless face. He wanted to know what she was thinking.

He had to talk to Miroku…just this once. ==Miroku, I know YOU can hear me. Kagome promised she wouldn't and I trust her. Do something for me, ne?==

==Yes Inuyasha I hear you. And I know Kagome can't hear us she really has to push herself to hear someone's thoughts==

The two were staring at the kitsune pretending all was fine

==I need you to listen to Kagome==

==That is very unethical, Inuyasha==.

==I don't give a damn. As if a few minutes ago, she now knows my real age, and that I'm a father. And I can't get a fix on what she thinks. She wouldn't respond at all before==

==why do you care, my hanyou friend? ==

==fuck it, never mind. If your not gonna help, just shut the hell up, ok? ==

== I never said I wouldn't just that it was unethical. ==

==oh, er, thanks Houshi.==

"Hi! My name is Shippou, what's yours?" the boy had apparently told as much as he could to Sango and found a new victim.

Kagome smiled and crouched down in front of him "my name is Kagome. Boy you're smart. How do you know so much about these to boys?" she said lifting her chin to indicate Inuyasha and Miroku.

"Inuyasha is my dad, and Miroku I've known forever. He's my uncle Ku, and like I said to your friend, I'll protect you from them"

"Keh! Like you could. And her name is Sango" teaching the boy, the name that had caused Inuyasha much grief in the beginning from Miroku.

Kagome stared at Inuyasha who then dared to look at her face.

She was smiling, brightly. Probably the first time he's seen her smile like that.

"Son? He's cute"

Inuyasha smiled and looked at his feet "he gets it from me"

"Duh! I couldn't have gotten it from mommy" said Shippou.

"Now Shippou, no need to bring HER up" Said Miroku, obviously trying to prevent some head thumping of the poor Kitsune.

Kagome looked at Miroku to Inuyasha, and gave them a raised-eyebrow. "Um, Shippou, so are you Innu demon, too?"

"No. I'm a fox Kitsune. It's hard to explain why I'm not without bringing up my mommy, which obviously the baka doesn't want me to mention" he leaned forward and whispered "I'll tell you about mommy later…but so you know, she's mean, and not as pretty as you"

Kagome chuckled but nodded her head "hey Shippou, want to help me with dinner, while your daddy, and these other 2, go and do whatever. We'll make is a surprise. Sound good?"

Shippou put his tiny paw to his lips, in thought "ok… but can I have some of that Pocky while we work?"

Kagome laughed again and stood up "sure. But not TOO much. You'll want to save some for after, right?"

With that, the tiny Kitsune attacked the paper bag that was still in Miroku's arms, to find the Pocky.

"Keh, hey Houshi, just put the bag down, or he might end up attacking you, in the process"

Miroku laughed "ok ok Shippou! Calm down!" he was still laughing as he set the bag, with an orangey tail flicking out of the top, down on the counter.

Kagome looked at the three. "Why don't you guys put on a movie or something and wait for dinner, ok?"

"Keh!" Inuyasha led the three to the main room, and flipped through his DVD collection. While Kagome started cooking, with the young boy wither eating Pocky or handing her the odd food item.

**** Later Saturday Evening****

It took the three in the main room half an hour to decide what to watch. They all wanted something different. It was decided to watch the one the Hanyou wanted, which was The Ring, with Inuyasha's reasoning. Which was `it's my place so it's my movie!'.

Kagome had gotten Shippou to announce the dinner's arrival "ahem! Lady and …er… you guys? Dinner is done!" and he scurried back in.

The three walked into the kitchen that had Sushi prepared, as well as a salad, and salmon filet.

"Keh! This isn't a din…"

"…isn't a dinner with out ramen, I know. Shippou told me your reasoning already" and she whipped of a towel that covered a pot of ramen.

"I think I could definitely get used to this Kagome. Anytime I come over here, it's always Ramen. But this looks very appealing. Thank you Kagome-chan" Miroku bowed and took her hand in his.

Inuyasha growled quietly, to warn Miroku to keep his distance. But only Miroku and Shippou knew why.

Miroku blushed but didn't look like he acknowledge the warning from is friend. Then sat down at the table.

Inuyasha then noticed that there were only 4 chairs. "Hey, um Kagome who's not eating?"

Kagome laughed "well, I ate while we where cooking, so I'm not, but if you meant by who's not staying at the table, that's Shippou. He's taking his food and watching TV, right Shippou?"

"Yup!" he grabbed the plate of sushi and fish in the one hand, deciding to pretend he `forgot' the salad, and the Pocky in the other, and skirted to the other room.

Sango raised an eyebrow at her friend

"We were called here, San, because Miroku wanted to talk about something. This way we'll get a chance, with out Shippou around. I don't think Inuyasha would want him hearing some of this, right?"

"He already knows everything that's going on. Don't see a reason to keep it from him"

Kagome looked at Miroku, in shock == loooong story Kagome, drop it for now ==

Kagome nodded, and sat down. Which indicated to the rest of them to do the same.

Sango sat down, bowed her head, clasped her hands in front of her face and said a little prayer. This shocked all of them. Kagome, especially, since she had eaten with her a lot and this was the first time she had seen the girl pray…ever!

When Sango was done her little inaudible prayer, she went to grab for the closest plate of food before realizing the curious stares from her friends around the table.

She smiled "I figured I should start asking for help from the kamis. It can't hurt and we DO need all the help we can muster, right?" with that she started to laugh at her friends faces

Miroku started laughing, along with Sango, while Kagome smiled and Inuyasha shook his head and said "you all need serious psychotic help"

Kagome nudged Inuyasha "she's right though. If the kami's help us since we're friendlier with them, it's a good thing, ne?"

"Keh, whatever." And he forgot the rest of them were there, and piled Ramen onto his awaiting plate.

After a few minutes, of pleasantries, as well as compliments `to the chef's Miroku pulled his chair out a bit and decided it was time to get down to business.

"Ok…" he heaved his shoulders out and sighed. "Lets get to it shall we? I made a few phone calls last night. Mainly to ones over seas. To find out how Naraku is fairing…you know nice `Sunday-tea' stuff. And, from what we are gathering, he forming something. Only Kami knows what, though. He brought in some of the high ranking crime-bosses in the eastern AND western hemisphere. And they all had a little `meeting'" he said the lat word with air-quotes.

"But mainly this meeting had a bloody over-tone…literally. The spies we sent in, couldn't get high enough clearance to get even close to the meeting room, but all they know is that, what Naraku like to call "gifts" came out in a bloody mess"

Kagome's head shot up "g...gifts? As in…"

"Definitely not i-pods that for sure. No, Naraku's gifts are…how to put this for the presents of the fairer sex, um"

"The people that he wanted to impress, or in the case of these crime-bosses, he would bring in certain people or youkai, that ticks them off, and kill them before their very eye. Usually more gruesome then anything imaginable" Inuyasha said cutting right to the chase.

And then looked at the shocked Miroku "what?! They can handle it, they are women, but if they can't handle being told that, what would happen if they see it?"

Miroku nodded. "Hai"

Kagome swallowed the bile that grew high in her throat and looked at her food, which just didn't look as appealing as it had a few minutes before hand "so I guess bribing people is a thing of the past"

"no no, my dear Kagome, Naraku still uses monetary means to get what he wants, but the "gifts" that he gives his, erm, clients, is something of his own free will, and want. He's …"

"Bloodthirsty" Replied a very quiet Sango

"Erm, yes. very" Miroku Looked at Sango with a very slight and concerned cut-eye.

"Ok, so they old bastard is calling in reinforcements. So what? we knew it would happen anyways."

"Well…yes but we all should be aware of the approaching advancements that Naraku is making. Or would you rather him just attack one day, and not have any warning?" Miroku cocked his head in question.

"Keh. Whatever. So what that's it? Naraku has a few more people then he already had. Ok, woo freaking hoo!"

"No. that's not completely it. Mainly I wanted the newer ones in our little group to be well aware of the situation. And…" Miroku stopped and just stared at his plate. Knowing this had to be said. It wasn't hard to say, just surprising.

"And, what?" Inuyasha always hated having to wait for people to finish their sentences.

"Well. How to put this? Um, Kagome?" he looked at the girl in question "we knew about you before we met you. I had dreams of a girl that had powers beyond my own, that would help us. That is you"

Kagome was shocked but nodded her head "I see" she said slowly

"And Sango my dear." Again turning to the mentioned female "there was a girl beside Kagome in my dreams. Who would fight along with us. This is you, of course, all though I will try and keep you from hurting yourself, as I am sworn to do"

"I know, but I will fight if I have to" She kept her head down, hoping that id there was anything given away in her eyes, she could avoid it being seen.

"Yes, I know you would. You have a heart of gold. As do you Kagome"

The two girls smiled, at the compliment

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow and leaned toward Kagome "that's it? Just complimenting the girls? You know hentai; your ways really need…"

"No no, Yash. You're missing the point. I've dreamed about every person that would help us, and that you and I would meet. But apparently there is another. One that I haven't dreamed of. But will help us. One that isn't, urgh, just isn't!"

Inuyasha's eyes went wide, with the revelation "another? How…"

"I don't know. When making some calls last night, to Japan I found out about a master that moved here years ago. He trained the ones, that originally helped get rid of Naraku the first time. And now… he's training a new person. Or as they like to be called, a new Demon Exterminator"

There was a gasp from Sango's direction. And even though no one at the table could see it, her eyes were wide with emotions.

"Um, are you ok, my dea…?" Miroku was cut off, by a quite Sango

"How…*ahem* I mean, how do you know about a new exterminator. You said this master moved down here, but, when did he… oh kami I don't understand" she moved her hands to her temples

"I actually got a hold of the master himself, last night. He had sworn off training Exterminators, until that very night. He said that this new exterminator is very strong. Probably even stronger and more skilled then the previous ones."

"He said that?"

"Yes he did" Miroku was very confused at this point "this guy has to be superb!"

"Guy? Just because this new exterminator is good, you automatically think it's a guy? UGH! Damn you!"

Sango stood up walked around and hugged Kagome, and left with a very loud *SLAM* of the door.

Miroku now, was even more puzzled then before noticed her bag on the table, and grabbed it turning to the pair "er, I have to give her a ride home anyways. Arigato, Kagome for the wonderful food" And another blur ran to the door. This time with less of a slam

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okies I know I know… I promised a lemon or pairing in this chappie, and you know what, I had originally wrote one in. but I decided last minute to take it out and move it to another chapter. Muahahah *once again ducks from things being thrown at her. Then stands up, brushes herself off * "that wasn't very nice now was it Inuyasha?" *Inuyasha laughs menacingly*`"keh, you deserve it wench!"

Anyways… as many of you know, this story is now up on both MM.org, and AF.net. If you are not a member of MM.org, or would like to be put on a mailing list to be notified about updates, lemme know. My email for this story is diff_shades_of_black@yahoo.ca (it can be used for questions, comments and/or flames)

New chappies note---p.s.- I have the next few chappies, but it'll take a week at least to put them up and no earlier. I broke my arm and hand, and it's in a cast, and it's uber painful to type so I'm prolonging the ones I already typed, to make room for the ones that'll take a bit longer to type.but, I will none-the-less, just a little slower for the next few weeks. Gomen. But it WLL be updated, don't worry about that.

Please review! ^_^ luv ya all!