InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Haunted ❯ Some Things are Harder to Say than Others ( Chapter 27 )

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

Chapter 33: Some Things are Harder to Say than Others

It was time.

She'd spent every last second she could with her family, and now, the time had come to say goodbye... and suddenly, that one word had become the hardest thing to say - in any language.

She could feel Inuyasha through the link, the guilt he felt swelling through his mind, and it made her calm down, if only for his sake. She knew she would see her family again, so it wasn't forever, and reminding herself of that allowed her to get out a small, but true, smile.

"Momma, jii-chan, Sota... there really isn't much to say, except I'll see you in a few days." She stumbled a bit as the three of them pounced on her, and she grinned as she was glomped straight into a group hug.

"Inuyasha, get over here - you're part of this family, and we want hugs from you, too." Momma held out her arm, waiting for the surprised hanyou to join them, before locking her arm and hauling him straight into the hug.

Kagome smiled as she heard his thoughts in her head, but didn't respond beyond shaking her head at him.

"I love you guys, you know that, right? And when we get back, we'll have lots of stories to tell you, so be prepared, okay?" Reluctantly, she finally pulled away, and Inuyasha grabbed her hand and held it as he watched her family hold back the tears he knew were there.

"Listen here, young man, you'd better take care of her, and I expect to see her back here like she said in a few days, safe and sound, understand that, boy? If I gotta have a hanyou for a grandson-in-law, I'd rather him be useful for something, at least!" The old man glared at him, but everyone could see his heart wasn't really in it.

"Yeah, and you take care of yourself, too, Inuyasha. When you get back, we can play some more video games." Sota smirked over at him slyly. "Maybe by then, you'll actually be a challenge."

Inuyasha reached over and smacked the boy lightly on the back of the head as everyone else laughed. "Feh. One of these days, kid, I'll make you eat those words."

Jii-chan nodded, then grabbing his daughter-in-laws hand, and Sota's, he turned and pulled them forcibly out of the well house. "You two better get going. And don't worry, Kagome, I'll take care of the family - no youkai will get anywhere near this shrine." He snickered as he pulled out a handful of ofuda, and Inuyasha groaned.

"Yeah, great, fine, like those are gonna work." Shaking his head, he grabbed his mate and, with a final wave as the three members of her family were pulled out of the well-house, he leapt into the well, and five hundred years back into the past.

He was still chortling when they came out on the other side. "Keh. I hope you know," he said, raising a brow at her as he set her down on the ground, "they'd be doomed if they had to rely on those useless ofuda of his. You'd think he'd realize by now that he has no spiritual powers, since he's been tryin' to use them on me for years, and I'm still here."

Kagome chuckled, the humorous memories of her jii-chan chasing her hanyou around the shrine over the years, warring with the sadness in her heart at the knowledge that five hundred years was a very long time to wait.

She could only wish that time wasn't so unforgiving... but there was nothing she could do about it now, and not wanting to make her mate feel any more guilty than he already did, she wiped her eyes determinedly and clapped her hands together.

"Right. Well, let's get the last of this stuff to Kaede's - some of these things are for her, anyway, and whatever else isn't immediately needed can go to the village's storage hut." She glanced at her mate, unsure of what he had planned now, since they hadn't really spoken about anything beyond saying goodbye to her family, and getting everything here.

"Feh. No way, wench. We're waiting right here 'til Miroku and Sango get here. I ain't carryin' all this by myself, ya know." He folded his hands into his sleeves, and his ears folded back against his head. "Besides... I think I need a little time to figure out how I'm gonna tell Sesshoumaru what we're going to be up against." He looked off into the forest.

"This is gonna suck anyway you look at it, K'gome. He's going to flip."

Kagome moved over to his side and put her hand on his arm in comfort. "I know. But you'll get through it, and besides, I don't think it's going to be you he's angry at - I wouldn't want to be in Naraku's shoes when your brother catches up with him, though." She shuddered at the thought. "He is one youkai I really don't like being around when he's angry."

Inuyasha pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling his nose into her neck and inhaling her scent, and immediately felt a whole lot calmer than he had just moments before. Her scent always had that effect on him...

"Listen, wench - you know I'd never let him hurt you, right?" At her nod, he sighed. "Good. But you know what? I probably know Sesshoumaru as well as anyone on this earth does, and I can tell you, I don't think you're in any danger from him. He respects you."

"Huh. Well, that's different. I wouldn't have expected that."

"Why not? Think about it, wench - Sesshoumaru respects power over everything - and you have a great deal of it."

Kagome thought about that for a moment, and then nodded again. "Well, that's for sure. He really is kind of obsessive about power. Must be a youkai thing - kami knows you kinda have a thing about power, too," she teased.

"Oi! I'm nothing like that uptight prick!"

She giggled, then sighing, pulled away as she felt Miroku's aura approaching. "C'mon, mate, Miroku and Sango are almost here. Let's get this stuff ready to go."

She quickly had everything sorted out, and, once she was done, Inuyasha could tell that there wasn't much that needed to go into storage, since most of that stuff had already been put away yesterday. What was left would be easily taken care of.

Inuyasha motioned Miroku over as soon as he caught sight of him, and began handing him the items for the storage hut.

"Keh. Get this stuff put away quick, monk. As soon as you're done, meet me at Kaede's and we'll go hunt something up for dinner. There's some things we all need to talk about," he said, glancing over at Sango, so she'd know it was serious. "Kagome and I found out some stuff on her side of the well, about what Naraku is planning for us."

Sango looked surprised as Kagome nodded. "Yeah." She waved Sango off as she started to speak. "We'll talk about it at dinner, Sango. Here, help me grab this stuff here - that pile is stuff for Kaede, and this stuff is ours for our next trip out."

She sighed, then nodded. "Alright. I'll grab our stuff, you grab Kaede's stuff." She looked at her best friend, noting the signs of sadness in her eyes. "You gonna be okay, Kagome?"

Kagome smiled at Inuyasha, then turned and shook her head in the affirmative at Sango. "Yeah, I'll be fine, don't worry about me." She glanced back over at the hanyou. "That goes for you, too, Inuyasha. I'll be fine, so stop worrying." She tossed a couple bags his way. "Make yourself useful, dog boy, since I see you handed out assignments, but didn't leave yourself anything to carry, I'll do it for you."

She snickered at his dirty look. "Move it."

He sighed as Miroku laughed and Sango grinned. "Feh. Women." He swung the bags over his shoulder and took off, calling back as he went, "Well, let's go then, people - I ain't got all day!"

Everyone broke out laughing as they all moved off towards the village.

Only Inuyasha noticed Kagome look back, sadly, lingeringly, at the well before turning and following her friends out of the meadow.

I'm sorry, Kagome, he thought sadly.

---cCc---

Later that evening, as everyone settled around the fire in Kaede's hut with dinner, Sango spoke up and asked what they had found in Kagome's time that pertained to the battle with Naraku. It had apparently been eating at her since it had been mentioned earlier, and she was tired of waiting for answers.

Kagome and Inuyasha exchanged glances, then Inuyasha sighed and nodded.

"Okay. When we got back over to her time, her jii-chan pulled me off to one of the storage sheds on the shrine grounds. Apparently, he'd found an old scroll that he felt we needed to see." He rolled his eyes at his mate. "For once in his life, the old bastard was right." He ignored his mates mock angry look, and kept talking.

"Miroku, you wrote that scroll, and left it to be found by us in her era, as a warning of what was going to happen when we finally fought Naraku."

Miroku sat back in surprise, and glanced over at Sango before looking back at Inuyasha. "Well, that is certainly... unexpected." His brow creased in thought, he turned his gaze on the fire and stared at the flickering flames. "So, what did I feel was so bad that I needed to warn you in the future?"

"Naraku's newest incarnation."

Everyone turned and looked at Kagome, and finally, Kaede spoke. "So the spider is creating something new for ye, is he?"

Inuyasha sighed, pulling his knee up, he rested an arm on it and let his gaze get lost in the flames. "Keh. Not new. Somehow, that bastard is planning to bring my father back, and using his entire chunk of the jewel, control him. He's who we'll be battling."

The shock in the room was palpable, and no one knew what to say. It was more than obvious that Inuyasha was very upset by this.

Sango shook her head, almost despairingly. "This isn't good, Inuyasha. We learned a great deal about your father as slayers, and everything I was ever told is that he was the single most powerful youkai that ever lived. Sesshoumaru might someday surpass him, but..." she trailed off at Inuyasha's irritated look.

"Keh! You think I don't know that? Why do you think Naraku has to use so much of the jewel to be able to control my old man?" He sent a dirty look her way, then looked off to the side, away from everyones eyes. "As for Sesshoumaru, I need to find him and tell him what's goin' on. If anyone can tell us how to deal with my father, it would be him, since he was actually trained by him, and sparred with him many times - hell, he even saw battle with him. I'm just shooting blind, since I never knew the old dog."

Kagome had been completely silent as certain ideas began to filter through her mind. Looking down at her lap, she allowed her thoughts to wander, entering an almost meditative state that allowed her to see things much more clearly.

Casting her mind back, she thought about every instance she'd had to deal with the shards of the jewel, every bit of contact, and the way that youkai who gained shards of the jewel reacted to it's power, and a certain picture began to emerge. Her brow furrowed, she went through the scenario in her mind several times, to make sure she was thinking correctly, and then a smile broke across her face.

"Oi, wench! Wake up, onna, what the hell?"

She started, looking up, she realized everyone was staring at her, and she blushed. "Oh! I'm sorry, Inuyasha. Did I miss something?"

"I said," he rolled his eyes, "that it's time for me to go talk to Sesshoumaru. He's nearby, so I may as well get it over with." He grimaced. "I really don't want to have to tell him about this but..." his voice trailed off and he shrugged. "Guess it's my responsibility, though. Let's go, wench. I might need you there to calm things down if they get outta hand."

Kagome nodded solemnly. "Alright, let's do this then." She glanced at her friends, who all still appeared to be deep in thought, and said, "We'll be back in a little while, guys. Hopefully, with some usable information from Lord Sesshoumaru."

"That's hoping for a lot. Uptight bastard isn't much for handing out information."

He shook his head in irritation. "Feh. Let's just go and get this over with." Grabbing her hand, he pulled her out of the hut, and as soon as they reached the path out of the village, he slung her up on his back, and headed to the place he could feel his brother's youki.

Kagome was silent as Inuyasha practically flew through the forest. She was absolutely positive that Sesshoumaru wasn't going to harm them - but also completely sure that he was going to be very, very angry about what they were about to tell him.

She suspected that he was going to need time to calm down... so it was probable that they wouldn't get much out of him tonight.

That meant that she had a little time to consider all her options before the youkai Lord was ready to join them and speak of what they might face against his father. She knew that, more than likely, she would have to get the shards out of him first, and that meant that she had to be close.

If everything she'd heard about her mate's father was true, he would be the most formidable opponent that they'd face, and if they could defeat him, Naraku would be almost an anti-climax.

She thought back to that one meeting she'd had with him, if you could really call it that, on the day Inuyasha had formed their mate-bond. Even dead, his spirit had radiated power...

Damn, I dread this fight. I can only imagine how Inu feels about this, and I don't even want to hink about how hard it's gonna be to tell Sesshoumaru. I mean, how the hell do you say something like this? Oh, by the way, Sesshoumaru, guess what? Your dad's gonna be acting all crazy and trying to kill you, so you're gonna have to fight him?

Inuyasha snorted at his mate's thoughts. 'Did you forget, wench? Sesshoumaru wanted to fight the old man anyway, he just never got the chance. The only thing that's gonna piss him off is the disrespect of what the bastard's doing... that and the fact that this fight isn't his choice, but Naraku's. Sesshoumaru doesn't like being forced to do anything...'

He broke off as they neared the clearing his brother's camp was in, and coming to a stop, lowered Kagome off his back. "Look. When we get in there, let me do the talking, unless he asks you something, okay? I don't want him targeting you if he loses control of his temper."

Kagome sighed, but nodded. "Okay, Inuyasha. He's not going to hurt us, but I'll do what you want if it makes you feel better." She tilted her head forward." Let's go - he knows we're here, and he's waiting. It wouldn't do to upset him anymore than we already are about to."

He huffed at her, but grabbed her hand, and pulling her forward, stepped into the circle of firelight.

"Inuyasha, miko. Is there a specific reason you sought me out tonight, instead of waiting 'til morning?"

Inuyasha stared steadily at his brother for a moment, then cursed, and moving forward, plopped down across the fire from his brother, waiting until Kagome sank down next to him, before beginning to speak.

"Look, Sesshoumaru. I don't exactly know how to tell you this but..."

He was interrupted before he could finish. "You tell me by saying it. There is no need to hide behind words, little brother. Speak."

"We found out what Naraku's planning. Since Kagome here pretty much destroyed the last of his incarnations, he's been forced to create one more, as protection for himself. We all know he's a coward who doesn't fight his own battles if he can help it... and this time he's gone too damn far to raise himself an ally that is more powerful than any he could have created on his own."

At his brother's raised brow and expectant expression, he dropped his bombshell. "He's used his entire chunk of the jewel to raise father's spirit, create a new body for him, and control his mind. We have to find a way to defeat father."

For several moments, the youkai lord seemed to be completely unmoved by the information he'd just been handed... but then, both the people sitting across from him could feel his youki beginning to rise, and his eyes began flickering between red and gold.

In that moment, the struggle for control became apparent within him... but much to Inuyasha's relief, his rage was not directed at them.

After several minutes, they could see that he'd regained control, although the level of rage in his aura did not differ, and as he locked his gaze on Inuyasha and spoke, Kagome could only be glad it wasn't they who had angered him.

"Where did you obtain this information?"

"From an old scroll found at Kagome's family shrine."

Sesshoumaru turned a raised brow on the girl, obviously questioning his brothers statement. "Hai, Lord Sesshoumaru, he speaks the truth. My jii-chan found it, and after reading it, brought it to Inuyasha's attention. It was written by Miroku, as a warning for us to find of what we would face."

"So the monk was concerned enough with the outcome to leave a warning, effectively taking away the advantage of surprise that Naraku was probably counting on... hn."

He looked away, mind obviously working over what he'd been told. "I will consider this tonight - we will speak in the morning about how we will use this information best."

Kagome immediately stood, pulling her mate up with her, and nodded at the youkai Lord. "That's what we had figured would be best, my Lord." She caught his gaze and held it steadily. "I am sorry for the disrespect Naraku has shown to your blood - and that we had to be the ones to tell you. It is obvious that he holds nothing sacred."

She bowed her head in a gesture of respect, surprised when his eyes softened just slightly, and he inclined his head back.

"Your words are honorable. Goodnight, Miko."

"We'll see you tomorrow then, Sesshoumaru. Meet us at the third hour after sunrise in the clearing near the Goshinboku. We'll talk then."

Not waiting for a response, Inuyasha once again pulled Kagome onto his back and leapt away... back to the hut, their friends, and more than likely, disturbed sleep.

---cCc---

A/N: Happy Easter, everyone!

Amber