InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hanyou of the Future ❯ Another Reunion ( Chapter 21 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

AN: One more chapter left after this! Thanks to Isis-Kitty for the beta job.

Hanyou of the Future

Chapter Twenty-One: Another Reunion

Most of the limo ride back to the Vigilante compound was quiet, but when Kagome's thoughts began to overflow, she voiced aloud some of the idle things on her mind.

“It's a shame the jewel won't take us back to the past and that we're still stuck here,” Kagome said with a languid sigh. “I'm really going to miss Miroku and Sango. The future seems so empty without them.”

Her eyes flickered over to Sesshoumaru's face, who merely looked at her with a mysterious smirk. For a demon who had a stick up his ass for the time Kagome had known him, living in the modern era had sure mellowed him out.

“The important thing is that Miroku and Sango lived a good life,” Inuyasha said resolutely. “I guess I'm going to have to get used to all these weird youkai dealings in your time.”

Kagome turned to Inuyasha with a smile, and she took his hands. For once, he didn't mind the public display of affection in front of Sesshoumaru and her mother (and Hojo, who was awkwardly snuggled in between her mother and Sesshoumaru in the seat). “It's not a total loss; at least we weren't separated for a long time only to have us suffer.”

“All is not lost, Kagome,” her mother said with a light giggle, and Sesshoumaru shot her a warning glare. Apparently, her mother could no longer contain herself on the secret that Sesshoumaru was about to reveal. Aki turned her gaze to Sesshoumaru and shot him a morose, pleading pout.

It miraculously seemed to work on him.

Sesshoumaru sighed. “If you must know, you may go back to the past. I have someone working on it. He's been using technology for your well so you can travel back without the Shikon Jewel.”

Kagome and Inuyasha stared agape at him. “Are you kidding? How is that possible?” Inuyasha asked.

Aki giggled. “Well, it seems our guy working on it considers himself something of a genius.”

Sesshoumaru scoffed. “He thinks that lazy simpleton. He's just got centuries of experience.”

“So he's a full demon,” Inuyasha guessed, and Kagome saw him watching his brother's eyes closely. “We know this demon, don't we?”

Kagome's mother grinned so widely the muscles in her face could barely contain her excitement. Sesshoumaru looked smugger than ever. “Here we are,” he announced, and Inuyasha and Kagome looked out the window and noticed the driver had taken them to a part of the compound they hadn't seen yet. Next to the obvious main part of the structure, a lone, meager metallic shed was tacked on beside it.

“It doesn't look like much, but that's only because our research team does everything underground. Less accidents and pollution that way,” Aki assured them. Soon, they were ushered out of the limo and following behind Aki and Sesshoumaru's lead. Hojo fell behind them, and Kagome found it amazing Sesshoumaru was allowing the kid to see this much inside his secret lair.

---

“Hey, Shippo! The boss is here!” a girl yelled beside him, and Shippo nearly fell out of his chair as the warning light for the front door flashed, alerting that someone was coming down to the basement.

“No way! Is he bringing who I think he's bringing, Souten?” he asked her with shocked green eyes. His frizzy-haired partner grinned next to him.

“Ayame radioed it in. Naru is finished, and now we get a chance to finally see Kagome,” she answered, and she made sure to brush the Cheetos crumbs off the front of her Runaways shirt before the boss arrived.

“After all this time!” Shippo exclaimed with glee, and he pushed back the messy strands of red hair from his eyes.

“And Inuyasha too,” Kai chimed from the corner, turning his head as his silver ponytail swished around his shoulder.

“Don't act so excited, Kai,” Souten said sarcastically, and Kai scoffed at her, offended.

“Stop it, both of you! This might not go so well. I'm still not done with that Rift Stabilizer, and Sesshoumaru's going to be pissed!” Shippo informed them with a groan.

“We have a couple hours left on it,” Kai said. “It should be done by then, and it'll give them a chance to relax.”

“You bring that up when Sesshoumaru grills me, okay Kai?” Shippo said; still not convinced he was getting off the hook. He let out a happy sigh. “Still, it's been a long time.”

----

They followed Sesshoumaru down the dank, cold stairs, and already Inuyasha complained about the smell and buzzing electronics in the air.

“It feels a bit stifling, yes, but it is all worth it,” Sesshoumaru said, and he opened the door and Kagome gasped when they laid their eyes on three young adult looking demons, all of them instantly recognizable from their past. One was Shippo of course, and Kagome and Inuyasha were also surprised to see teenage versions of Kai and Souten.

“Shippo!” Kagome squealed, and the fox demon - even though he had the body of an eighteen year old - leaped into her arms, just as he always did when he was a child. He hugged her tightly, burying his nose in her scent.

“Kagome! It's so good to see you,” he said, and then his nose wrinkled. “Damn, I was hoping Inuyasha hadn't claimed you yet. I'm definitely older than him now,” he said, pausing and waggling his eyebrows at her. “And available.”

Inuyasha growled, ready to strike him, but Shippo was already punished by a book thrown to the back of his head. “Hey!” he called, and he turned around to glare at Souten, who didn't seem too thrilled about his flirting with Kagome.

“Why can't you behave, Shippo? You haven't seen Kagome in hundreds of years and you hit on her?” Souten scolded him. Shippo made a sheepish apology, and Kagome giggled. Inuyasha glared at him, but Kagome could tell in his face he was glad to see the kitsune too.

“Oh, don't worry, Souten, I'll see Kagome and Inuyasha soon enough.” He grinned at them both. “What do you think about using the well to time-travel again?”

“So it's you who's going to send us back. How is that even possible? It only really worked with the jewel,” Kagome asked.

“Well, I could tell you that it worked because of true love, and you're meant to be together, and blah blah,” he said, waving his hand. “And though that's probably true, I'm going to tell you the science part that's going to send you back.” He forced a dramatic pause as they stared at him, and he added humorously. “Brace yourself, I'm about to take the fun out of everything.”

Inuyasha and Kagome watched him curiously, their silence urging him to continue.

“More importantly, our advanced technology has uncovered an unstable, space-time rift at your shrine's well, Kagome. More like a wormhole, but I won't call it that for sure because it's very unstable, and the only way it was activated in the first place - and stable - was because of the energy in the Shikon no Tama. Something, probably the holy power of the priestess Midoriko and all the demon energy of the youkai she was battling, jump-started the rift and made it active long enough for the two of you to time travel to the same place.

“Since, the jewel was burned with Kikyou and then created in Kagome again in this era, it created two fixed points in time so that a string was created between the two eras. It was a small, thin string of course. Only you two were allowed through, and the string in the rift tuned into your energy, and became fixated on it and nothing else.” Kagome's jaw dropped, but she believed she could follow him. “You got this?” They both nodded, but the confidence wasn't quite there.

Shippo continued anyway. “So with that in mind, you were able to time-travel; however, it was the jewel stabilizing this broken, erratic rift. Now that the jewel is gone, the rift could be powered by your energy, if the thought was right - high emotions and high spiritual output from you both might trigger a jump, but that's speculation of course. You need something to boost your power without frying your brain and shorting out your heart, and you need another device to stabilize the rift. I've invented both of these devices.”

He looked at them with a wide grin, but when he met Sesshoumaru's unimpressed face, he frowned immediately. He put his hands up in surrender. “You're probably wondering if those devices are done. Well, the power booster is, thankfully, but we haven't completed the Stabilizer yet.” Sesshoumaru's lip curled in displeasure, and Shippo began to shrink back away from him. “I should have it ready in about three hours.”

Silence overtook the basement room, and finally Kagome chimed in. “You mean we can go back to see Miroku and Sango in three hours?”

Shippo nodded once, still cautious about Sesshoumaru's mood.

Suddenly, Kagome jumped into Shippo's arms! He twirled her around instinctively and laughed. “That's fantastic! We thought we'd never get to see them again! If we only have to wait three hours, it's worth it!”

“So, you're happy?” Shippo asked.

“Oh, Shippo, I'm so proud of you. It's the best thing you've ever done!” Kagome said, kissing his cheek.

Shippo blushed hotly. “Well,” he said with a cough. “I'll... get working then. It should give you plenty of time to eat and freshen up after fighting Naru.” Shippo's gaze turned to Sesshoumaru, who seemed to be a little more at ease from Kagome's glee. He still eyed Shippo with that usual steely gaze, however.

“Excellent, get everything ready at the well in three hours. We will reconvene with you then,” Sesshoumaru said formally, and he turned heel and made his way up the stairs with Aki and Hojo following him. For a moment, Kagome and Inuyasha stayed behind.

“It really is good to see you again,” Kagome said, squeezing Shippo's arms lovingly.

Inuyasha punched him lightly on the shoulder. “Not bad, runt. Not bad.” And if they stayed any longer, Shippo was sure to cry.

“Let's get to work,” Kai reminded him, and Shippo watched as Inuyasha and Kagome left the basement with a brief goodbye.

He clenched his fists at his sides, and then he pushed his hair out of his eyes again and released a war cry. “Let's do this!”

“Yeah!” Souten called next to him, and the three youkai computer geeks started tapping and typing away.

TBC...