InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kazoku ❯ The Awakening ( Chapter 10 )

Kazoku

Chapter Ten: The Fight-Part Two

DISCLAIMER: The only things I own are Inuroku, Takara, and Toshi. And Toshi hasn't even been born yet, so there. *sticks out tongue at lawyers*

Author's Note: Almost done! This chapter will be the last actual chapter of Kazoku. The next chapter will be the epilogue, and then it's all over! *Cries* See, to you guys this story was up in three days. To me and all me readers on fanfiction.net, it took way longer. This story's like my baby!

~*~*~*~

Kagome let the arrow fly, praying it would hit its mark and this whole terrible ordeal would be over. She felt tired…so tired…

Unfortunately, nothing is that simple.

Kikyo raised her pale hands and blocked the arrow, sending it back at the younger girl. Kagome's eyes widened as she jumped to the side to avoid the shaft whizzing past her ear. She turned to face Kikyo fully and was hit straight in the chest with a beam of blood-red power.

Pain enveloped her and she cried out, falling to her knees. Kikyo cackled and walked towards the disabled girl.

"Be on your guard, little copy of mine," she mocked, sneering at her reincarnation's pain.

"You…bitch…" Kagome managed to gasp out, struggling to her feet. She found herself face to face with Kikyo's own miko arrow.

"I'm going to kill you now," Kikyo whispered. She had a maniacal look in her eyes as she lowered the arrow to Kagome's heart. "But I really shouldn't bloody such a pretty little face. I want Inuyasha to be able to see your eyes as they fade and go cold."

She backed up, keeping the arrow trained on Kagome at all times.

"Goodbye, little copy. Enjoy hell."

The arrow was released and Kagome closed her eyes, knowing she couldn't dodge it. She waited for the searing pain, the rip of flesh-but it didn't come. Instead, a clink was heard as the arrow hit a solid object in her blouse. A pink glow erupted out from the arrowhead. Kikyo watched in horror as the arrow disintegrated and the dash of light continued. It hurtled toward her at speeds that exceeded anything Kagome could shoot.

The arrow struck her chest and both women screamed. A dazzling flash of light blinded Kagome and she shielded her eyes, suddenly able to move as she backed away. Kikyo's horrible screaming reached a new level; it was the inhuman scream of someone losing everything they existed for. Then it died away.

The light faded. Kagome let down her hand and slowly opened her eyes.

Not all of the light had faded away. A glowing sphere hung, suspended, in front of her-all that remained of the priestess Kikyo. Kagome reached into her blouse, pulling out the sparkling jewel on the chain that hung around her slender neck.

The Shikon no Tama glinted in the light dully.

She looked at the remains of Kikyo's soul and reached to it with trembling hands.

~*~*~*~

Inuyasha yelped as Kagome's body jerked in his arms. A sudden glow on her chest caught his eyes.

Slowly, he lifted the jewel out of her shirt with one clawed finger. His jaw dropped. How did he not notice that she still had the Shikon no Tama?

The jewel glowed a brilliant pink. Inuyasha jumped as he felt his son sit down beside him. Inuroku gave a casual glance at the jewel.

"Mama's coming home," he said simply.

Inuyasha looked into the amber eyes that were so like his own and only saw calm understanding there. He nodded slowly in agreement. He looked down as he heard a soft moan. Kagome's eyes flickered, then opened fully.

"Inu…yasha?"

"Shhh…" he soothed. "I'm right here."

"Mama!" Inuroku yelled. Kagome winced at the volume but smiled at him.

"Inuroku, are you okay? Have you been good for Daddy?"

"Hai, Mama," the child recited dutifully. Kagome smiled weakly at him.

"Inuroku, go find Sango, Miroku, and Kaede," Inuyasha instructed. The boy pouted but nodded and obeyed.

Kagome shivered involuntarily as he turned his amber eyes on her. Kami, how she missed those eyes. He pulled her close to him, burying his face in her raven hair.

"I almost lost you, didn't I?" he whispered. It was more of a statement than a question.

Kagome gave a small, forced laugh. "Are you kidding? You're stuck with me until I'm ready to die."

"That's not funny, Kagome."

"I know."

He took a deep breath, inhaling her sweet scent and that of Sango, Miroku, and Shippo, who were hovering outside the door. He growled softly as Kagome scratched his ears.

"Sango, Miroku, and the runt want to see you," he grumbled.

"So let them in."

"I don't wanna."

She chuckled weakly. "I can't do that right now anyway. I exhausted myself fighting, hentai."

"I'll do everything, then."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and licked his cheek. "Later, I promise."

A knock interrupted them and Kagome struggled to free herself from Inuyasha's grasp. He grabbed her and set her back on his lap and she gave up, sighing. Sango entered first, followed by Miroku with Shippo on his shoulder. She headed to Kagome immediately, giving her a careful hug. Inuroku and Takara entered shyly, sitting next to each other at Kagome's side.

"Don't do that again, baka," the taiji-ya sniffled.

Kagome laughed. "Sango, I'm fine now. Why are you crying?"

"Because I'm emotional and pregnant. It's what I do."

"You gave us a scare, Kagome," Miroku added, his ever-present staff jingling as he stepped forward. As soon as he came within range, Shippo pounced.

"KAGO-uff!"

Inuyasha had snatched Shippo by the tail before he could reach the young woman.

"Watch it, runt! She doesn't need you pouncing on her!"

"Ow ow ow ow OW!" Shippo whined. "Kag-o-meeee!"

"Inuyasha, if you don't put Shippo down, I'll s-i-t- you."

"You wouldn't dare, wench. I'm still holding you, remember?"

Kagome yanked him down to her level and whispered something in his ear. Inuyasha immediately released Shippo, who scampered over to Kagome, clinging to her neck. Inuroku's ears twitched (AN: *stretches out hands and tries to tweak the ears* EEEEEAAAARRRRRRS!) and he tilted his head to the side, looking confused.

"Daddy," he began, "What's `sex' mean?"

Everyone present froze and stared in shock at the boy for a minute, before Miroku started laughing hysterically.

"Inuroku," he gasped, "Sex is…"

Sango and Kagome glared at the monk and he hastily finished his sentence.

"…something you'll learn about when you're older."

"But why did Mama say it?"

Everyone turned to stare at Kagome, who blushed furiously.

"I forgot about his hearing," she muttered.

"Aw!" Sango teased. "Kagome-chan's blushing!"

The younger woman's eyes widened as her hand flew up to cover her burning cheeks. "I am not!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!" Sango insisted. "Your voice turned all squeaky!"

"No it didn't!"

"Yes it did!"

"I am NOT blushing!"

"You ARE blushing! You're blushing!"

"I hate to say it, Kagome-sama," Miroku began, adding the title to soothe her, "but you are blushing."

She glared at Miroku through her fingers. "No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!" Sango and Miroku chorused.

"I'm not…"

"Give it up, love," Inuyasha laughed. "You're blushing and you look cute."

Kagome lowered her hands and folded her arms, pouting. Takara giggled. Poor Inuroku had no clue what was going on.

~*~*~*~

By nightfall Kagome had regained most of her strength. Kaede had said that she would have been trapped until either Kikyo or Kagome gave up their soul.

"She had a part of ye soul, but it was tainted," the old priestess explained. "When ye were fighting, ye were not fighting the physical Kikyo, nor was she fighting the physical Kagome. Ye body was here. The souls were battling to either taint or purify the other."

Kagome still didn't fully understand, but all she needed to know was that Kikyo was gone for good. As she lay in Inuyasha's arms that night, she decided to bring up a question she had asked a long time ago.

"Inuyasha?"

"Hmmm?"

"What do we do now?"

He lifted his head, frowning cutely. "What do you mean?"

"What's ahead? I have two lives, Inuyasha. I've had two lives for nearly nine years. Given the choice between the modern era and this one…I'd stay with you, with no hesitation. But where would we live? How would we make a living?"

He kissed her, cutting her off from her rant. "Don't worry, love. I've already thought about it all."

"Should I be scared?" she asked playfully. "You're not going to make me live in the Goshinboku, are you?"

"Wench," he growled. He nipped her neck and she gasped.

"Sango and Miroku's hut here is only temporary," he told her. "Kohaku…you know, Sango's kid brother?"

"Of course I know Kohaku! I helped save him, you know. And he probably isn't a kid anymore."

"Feh, whatever. Anyway, he's been working on rebuilding the taiji-ya's village, and as soon as Sango is okay to travel, they'll be moving there. We're going with them."

"Sango's due within the month!" Kagome said excitedly. "But won't the taiji-yas come after you?"

"Nah. I won't hurt `em." He flexed his claws. "I can even help with the big demons."

"Wow. You really did think this through," she said approvingly. "We'll have our own hut!"

"Yep. As big as you want it," he replied. He bent down and kissed her stomach. "We can have more pups."

Kagome made a face. "Easy for you to say. Having Inuroku was hell."

"Really?"

"He was a big baby! I don't exactly have childbearing hips, you know!"

"There's a special kind of hip you need to have?" Inuyasha asked, confused.

Kagome looked flustered. "It's harder to have a baby when you have a tiny figure, and I'm kind of a small woman…"

Inuyasha looked concerned. "Didn't your healers have herbs to help?"

"I didn't go to a hospital. I wasn't sure how the doctors would react to a baby with dog-ears and claws. Mama delivered him, and Souta helped, when he regained consciousness."

He looked down at her, awed. "You're amazing, you know that?"

She grinned and stretched, raising her arms high above her head. "I know."

~*~*~*~

Another chapter done! I figure we only have one more chapter left before the epilogue-and yes, I am planning a sequel. It will be mainly focused on Inuroku and Takara, with some new characters introduced.

By the way, the whole blushing/not blushing thing is a real argument that occurs sometimes (okay, a lot) between my friend Aki T and I, with her in the part of Sango and me in the part of Kagome. She's always wrong, too. I don't blush.

Aki T: Yes, you do.

Teresa: No, I don't.

Aki T: Yes. You do.

Teresa: You wanna take this outside? *gets into a fighting stance*

Aki T: *takes out Tetsusaiga* Gladly.

Teresa: ….*sweatdrop*