InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Knight Errant ❯ Chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or any of the other inhabitants of the fine story of Rumiko's that we all know and love. Kiyoshi, Tomoe, Aikiko, and Sashiko are mine, and I hope you enjoy them as they are encountered.

 

 

 

“I know, Kagome. We will protect your hanyou child.”

 

 

 

Kiyoshi was not being forthcoming to Kagome about just how he'd known she was expecting when even she and Kouga hadn't, his cat reflexes saving him from a grab by the playfully annoyed priestess. He made her laugh though when he'd darted forward and rubbed his cheek across her own, though it had made InuYasha and Kouga both growl. They had each glanced at the other in surprise after that in a manner that Kiyoshi found highly comical and his laughter had made Kagome giggle. To her, if someone like Kiyoshi could be as he was despite what had happened to him it meant there was hope always, no matter what the future might hold.

 

 

 

She knew what her future held however, glancing across to the so blue eyes of Kouga. He was her future as surely as the sun would rise and stars would sometimes shoot across the heavens to let girls romantically wish upon them. Kagome found her fingers reaching up to touch the charms that Kouga had given her, and her smile softened. She knew that she would have to return to her original home in the future soon and let her mother at least know the good news and she only hoped that her mother was ready to be a grandmother. She had expected to feel differently she supposed at this point herself considering that by her own time's standards she was very young to be a mother and she was not married in a fashion that they would accept perhaps or even understand.

 

 

 

She would have been expected perhaps to feel ashamed or to have put shame upon her family, at least which was how things often were. Truly she had no one to blame but herself as it wasn't like she had even remotely tried to use protection of any sort since she had become Kouga's mate. Yet she felt nothing of the sort and could best perhaps describe the feeling she had as one of elation. She hoped that she would be able to convey that to her mother and that her mother would remain the kind understanding soul she had always known even with the gravity of her news.

 

 

 

Kiyoshi gathered up Tomoe while Kagome ran through her thoughts and brought her back to the others to properly introduce her. She again gave polite little bows to everyone as they were named to her though her golden green eyes widened when her father introduced her to InuYasha. Tomoe had never before met another hanyou and she had known that he was one upon sight, and it made her smile at him with warmth and shyness. Unlike the others she actually said his name back though her little hand with its retractable claws had risen up to partially cover her mouth as if she could not believe she had been so bold.

 

 

 

InuYasha had tried to present the gruff exterior he was famous for when presented with the neko hanyou child but there was something about her that seemed to gather him in. Maybe it was the way she looked at him as if he were something singularly wonderful or the polite shyness in which she carried herself, or the way her pointed cat ears had flicked back a little as if she were afraid to be rejected, but he found himself crouching down before her to examine her and he gave her a somewhat smile in return. Her ears flicked forward at that and she moved quickly then, rubbing her cheek against InuYasha's before darting back to hide behind her father's legs before peeking out to see how her gesture had been received.

 

 

 

InuYasha had given an almost surprised `whuff' sound when he felt that swift touch of her cheek to his, his clawed hand almost raising to rub it off until he saw how she had peeked out to watch him. The hand hovered there a moment and he dropped it back to rest on his thigh and he knew he was not imagining the look of overwhelming relief on the small girl's face. He knew then as he looked up at Kiyoshi's guarded expression that at some point in Tomoe's life she had faced rejection and been hurt by it, and perhaps the neko youkai was as surprised that she had made the attempt to be affectionate as InuYasha himself was.

 

 

 

He slowly stood up then and sauntered past Kiyoshi and Tomoe, giving Kiyoshi that age old expression of dog dominance as a pay back for Kiyoshi's own feline aloofness and Kagome bemusedly watched him leave. She knew from talking to him that he was not used to people casually touching him or even wanting to touch him which is why it meant so much to him to have Kagome's friendship. Each time she hugged him or touched him without revulsion or fear it healed something within him and it made her want to have serious talks with those that lived in this village. He had lived among or at least around them for the past fifty years, helping them in times of trouble by fighting off youkai or helping the hunters gain food for the hungry yet not even Kaede in all her wisdom had seemed to recognize that he had needed more from them than they had thought to give.

 

 

 

It made her doubly glad that Kouga loved her as deeply as he did because she knew that even should something happen to her or heavens forbid him, that his tribe of wolves would never cast out their cubs. Kagome knew how they felt about her, knew they accepted her and she was glad that even should the worst happen that her cubs would always know love and acceptance from those around them. It made her heart ache for InuYasha, knowing that with both his parents dead at a very young age he had been forced into a life of hardship and hate where he had had to struggle with all his being to even survive, alone and unloved. Then when he had thought that he had found what he needed most it had been cruelly torn from him in a bloody lesson on what lack of trust would gain one.

 

 

 

It made Kagome sad for him and made her heart hope for the one thing that might truly heal InuYasha's wounded soul. She knew that he thought that he loved her, even though she felt that his attraction had been due to how much she had resembled his lost love Kikyou. Resembled and perhaps was the reincarnation of though Kagome saw little true evidence of this, but either way her heart belonged to Kouga in the ways that InuYasha wished it belonged to him. But he was her best friend and she did love him in that way and it made her want more than anything for him to find the love he deserved to have.

 

 

 

It was decided later on that Kagome would go to visit her family in the future come morning. Kouga had thought about going with her but hadn't quite decided yet. Her family was a bit intense for him and he really wanted to be around when Sango woke so that they could have some answers as to why InuYasha had been the target of her directed by Naraku attack, and perhaps if she knew if there were other hunters on his trail. He did not want to outright forbid his mate from further travel with the hanyou just yet, after all this could just be a random part of Naraku's plans and not a true concerted effort. Yet Kiyoshi had made it very clear that this Naraku sought the shards of the Sacred Jewel for his own ends and of course it was those selfsame shards that Kagome and InuYasha sought to gather.

 

 

 

It made Kouga question the wisdom of their search when the danger just seemed to be growing daily, but then again neither did he like to contemplate what might happen should the evil that Naraku seemed to be had the power of such an artifact. There could be no peace when someone that dark held such supreme power, and it would be more than just humans and lower youkai that would suffer his wrath then. Kouga did not like thinking of his own pack dispossessed of their homes and peace and he could feel it in his heart that it would happen should Naraku gain the power he desired.

 

 

 

He pushed those thoughts aside when they truly began to agitate him, though nothing calmed him but his arms around his mate. Perhaps he would after all go with her when she went to visit her mother in the morning as even the thought of being away from her was repugnant to the Prince. The less instinctual side of him knew that it was his natural reaction to her pregnancy that was making it so, but then he really didn't mind letting his primal nature have its way in this case. The truth was of course that while she was gone on her travels he actually missed her and there were times he would simply stare in the direction his heart told him that she was. To his pack it made him look thoughtful, as if he were contemplating some deep enigma, but the truth was that he wanted to go to her no matter how far away she was and no matter how many responsibilities he left behind.

 

 

 

It made him wonder just how he would possibly be able to cope once she was gone. He would still be needed by his pack, and his cubs, and their cubs on into the future. His arms tightened around her and he buried his nose in her hair to inhale the sweet fragrance of her that belonged to no one else, the sweet essence of his mate Kagome. She made sweet sleepy noises and nestled her head beneath his chin and one slender arm made its way up around his neck as she hugged him back. She was so warm in his arms that it made it hard to think about her growing old and leaving him. He heard her murmur `dearest' in her sleep and his smile would have looked foolish were someone else able to see it. Even as he contemplated the far future she had known exactly how to bring him back solidly into the present.

 

 

 

They rose early but before he could take Kagome to the Bone Eater's Well to take her home she led him off to a nearby hot spring so that they could spend some time together alone. There was something so primal and sensual about watching her when she rose up from the water, her dark silken locks heavy with water and mantled around her shoulders that it almost made Kouga's heart want to stop so that the moment would never end. The time they spent making love made the delay of her trip home more than worth it, though on the way back it was hard to resist the temptation to stop in the village and find out if Sango had awoken.

 

 

 

In the end the need to tell her family overrode the desire to question the taijiya. Kouga would just have to trust that InuYasha and Miroku would remember what he wanted to ask and do it for him. After all if things went well they might be gone a day or two to let Kagome spend time with her mother and ask her questions on what to expect and to get some things for the baby. If things did not go so well, they might be back sooner than that of course and he would have to deal with his upset mate.

 

 

 

His blue eyes were serious as he lifted her up to the lip of the Well, and then joined her, his fingers laced with her own. Her smile was his reward at his silent declaration that no matter what happened they would face it together, and then they stepped off into the darkness of the well, the glow rising up to meet them and take them into the future where her family waited.

 

 

 

-:: Five Hundred Years Later ::-

 

 

 

It was a warm day when they stepped from the well house, and Kouga's nose wrinkled at the smells of modern day Tokyo. He and Kagome climbed up the ladder that her grandfather had placed in the well for her to use and then they placed aside their armor and furs. Their items would be safe enough here and Kagome was right, it would probably be better to approach her mother dressed in more conservative attire than Yourouzoku furs and armor. Kagome wore one of the kimonos that Sashiko had provided for her, the deep blue of it complimentary to the dark almost black of Kouga's hakama. His haori was white with blue embroidery, symbols of wolves dancing in the sky and that pattern had been painstakingly stipple painted on Kagome's kimono as well.

 

 

 

Kagome lifted her hands and removed his headband, her deft fingers combing out his rich dark locks to frame his face. While she did that his lips curved into a lopsided smile and a light danced in his blue eyes when she quietly told him how handsome he was and how when his hair was down it reminded her of the day she had first seen him pinned to the Goshinbuko. To her the moment they emerged from the well house they had resembled perhaps a fairy tale Prince and Princess which she supposed that they might have been. She squared her shoulders and began to lead her mate towards the shrine house she had grown up in when they had an unexpected interruption.

 

 

 

“Kagome!!”

 

 

 

Kouga had to stifle his growl when he felt her stiffen next to him and the temperature of her hand change. He settled for a forbidding look as the group of three girls and a boy roughly her age crested the top of the shrine steps and the girl that had called out to her waved energetically. Kagome pasted a smile on her face though Kouga arched a dark brow at the subsonic growl that seemed to come from her throat. She did not release his hand however and made sure that their joined fingers were easily spotted by the group. Kouga's sharp gaze did not miss the thinning of the lips of one of the girls nor the somewhat crestfallen expression on the face of the auburn haired boy and he allowed a ghost of a smile to touch his mouth as they came up to the pair. Apparently the girls had hoped that his mate would be interested in this ningen boy and he had also apparently had some sort of attraction as well to be played upon by them.

 

 

 

Kagome steeled herself against the inevitable onslaught of questions but began with a statement guaranteed to shock them into at least a moment of silence.

 

 

 

“Ah hi guys, Hojo. I'm surprised to see you, but at least now you can meet my husband Kouga. Kouga, these are my friends from school I've told you about.”

 

 

 

Yuka had been the first to be able to speak, the disbelief in her tone as she said husband clear to the others.

“Husband? How could you get married and not invite us! We've never even gotten to meet him until today!”

 

 

 

Kagome held up her hand and Kouga felt the shift of her temper, knowing that she was going to yell and perhaps say something she would regret later, and he moved to release her fingers only to slide his arms around her, his deep voice overriding the protesting squeals of her friends.

 

 

 

“I am afraid that was my fault. We decided on doing things by the traditions of my family first, but we are going to do a ceremony to include Kagome's friends and other relations that could not attend the first soon. I am sure that should she wish it that you all will be there.”

 

 

 

Ayumi was the first to beam a smile at the pair, she could sense that not only was Kagome in love with this Kouga that he loved her as deeply in return. In her mind she believed that Kagome deserved this happiness and her smile got Ari to hesitantly smile as well. Hojo put on a brave front and bowed politely to Kouga who nodded regally in return. It made Kagome smile that he had thought of this and by his own words wanted her to have a ceremony that her family could attend. It made her think of that dream she had of a traditional Shinto wedding and her scent told Kouga that he had made her very happy indeed.

 

 

 

The group retreated and Kagome let out a sigh of relief as they left which made Kouga chuckle. She looked up at him and couldn't help but laugh herself as he lifted her hand to his lips to press a kiss to the backs of her fingers. They headed towards the house then and Kagome was not surprised to see that her mother had been standing in the door way that entire time and had witnessed the confrontation with her old friends and the words she had spoken. Her gentle gaze took in how the pair looked together and the obvious effort that had been put forth in the choice of their clothing to show their unity. Kagome blushed slightly but then hurried forth with her words, wanting to say everything at once.

 

 

 

“Mama, I chose him. Kouga and I are mates, and the tribe accepted me. So I guess that makes me his Princess as well as his … wife. He said we could do a ceremony here for you, grandpa and Souta to attend too, but I'd like to do it soon before I start showing.”

 

 

 

It wasn't quite how she intended to break the news to her mother and she suddenly blushed a vivid red across her cheekbones and Kouga coughed to hide his smile behind his hand. She had been practicing her speech and that had not even remotely been it and he knew it. Before his mate could add to her embarrassment he spoke up and kept his deep voice soothing as he could, his fingers brushing over her dark hair.

 

 

 

“I give my oath that I will protect her and our cubs, and I will make her happy. I will provide for her and care for her, she will never be without what she needs. I can do this, and I give you my oath as Kouga, Prince of the Yourouzoku and one day perhaps the Tai-youkai of the Yourouzoku.”

 

 

 

Kagome's mother braced herself against the doorway as she listened to the words of first her daughter and then her … mate? Her gentle eyes searched Kouga's face as he made his oath and perhaps it was something there that convinced her that Kouga was true in his affections and that there was nothing that could be done at this point to separate them. Her baby was having his baby and if she did the wrong thing now he could take her back through the Well and she would not only perhaps ever see Kagome again, but would lose out on the chance to see her first grandchildren. Grand cubs? Either way she knew that her words would perhaps be the most important she had uttered in her life save perhaps her own wedding vows when she married Kagome and Souta's father.

 

 

 

“Come inside then, and we can discuss what needs to be done.”

 

 

 

Kagome let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding and became cautiously optimistic as Kouga's chest swelled a bit in pride, sure it had been his words that had maybe tipped the balance in their favor. Suddenly he laughed that rich laugh that made Kagome weak in the knees when her mother had suddenly blurted out to him her most pressing question it seemed.

 

 

 

“Will the baby have that cute tail?”

 

 

 

-:: The Past ::-

 

 

 

Sango woke later that morning and it had been Miroku who had been sitting with her when she finally opened her eyes. She did not think that he had noticed her as yet so she allowed herself a moment to simply look at him. His robes of purple and black were done in the style of a houshi of course though the colors were not those one might expect of one that had taken up a holy path. They suited him though with his violet eyes and his black hair caught back in a short ponytail. He was handsome though she wondered about the slightly sad expression in those eyes and she wondered about his covered right hand with its leash of prayer beads. There was something about him that made her want to ask him what troubled him, though she would not.

 

 

 

She did not jump or blush however when he spoke and she was proud of that.

 

 

 

“I see you are awake, Lady Taijiya. I trust you are feeling better and will be receptive to our questions.”

 

 

 

The monk rose gracefully and went to the door of the hut she was in and told whoever was outside that she had woken. For a fleeting instant she wished that she had more time to come to herself, more time to try and understand what had happened and how she had gotten here, but of course that time was a luxury she was not allowed. She could not blame them, she had attacked them with the intent of slaying one of their number and she knew that they would want to know why. What she was not certain of was whether she would have the answers they wanted though she was sure somehow that she had been tricked by Lord Kagewaki's advisor.

 

 

 

InuYasha was innocent of what Naraku said he had done, he had not been the one to slaughter her family or those that had remained at the village while the slayers were away dealing with the spider youkai. The signs had been there when she was tracking him and his party but she had been so certain that her information was correct that she did not listen to her own instincts and pursued her course of revenge anyway. Sango felt ashamed by this and was as open with her apology to InuYasha as she was with her sharing of what little she knew. She told her tale from start to finish, sparing none of the gruesome details of Kohaku's demonic possession and how she herself had gotten that Shard placed in her back. She was unable to give much information about Naraku but she gave what she could.

 

 

 

He spoke with soft persuasiveness, and seemed trustworthy though she had never seen his face as he appeared covered and cowled in a soft looking white baboon fur cloak complete with a blue baboon mask. She had found it strange at the time that he would not show his face to her whilst he spoke but had assumed that perhaps his face was deformed or scarred, otherwise not matching his pleasant and aristocratic voice. However she was of such nature that she took the blame for her own actions upon herself, despite her orders it had been her own conscious choice to act upon them. Even InuYasha seemed impressed by this, often he had seen how humans and even some youkai would take any route so as not to look bad upon themselves, shifting blame to others, the elements, or even the kami themselves.

 

 

 

Kiyoshi had come in while they were speaking and he listened carefully to what she said and much like InuYasha he read her body language and silent scent cues as she spoke. He knew that she was telling the truth and he knew that both his presence with InuYasha not only made her uncomfortable as a taijiya but confused her as well. Neko youkai were not often known to associate with Inu youkai after all, nor were full blooded youkai often known to associate with hanyou. He glowered at her silently, not because he was angry with her but because she had been a pawn of Naraku and did not have more information to share with them.

 

 

 

Sango did not know whether or not they could ever forgive her for attacking them, but she ended her speech with another heartfelt apology. She folded her hands in her lap and bowed her head, accepting whatever would come to her at this point. None of them expected what happened next. Kiyoshi sensed it first, a tilt of his head had his long auburn hair swinging down as his golden green gaze took in the tiny two-tailed cat that pranced her way into the hut and straight up to Sango who still held that almost grieving pose. The little neko sat and mewled up at her, large red eyes blinking as Sango held open her hands for her to leap up.

 

 

 

“I thought you had left me, Kirara.”

 

 

 

It was true. From the moment that Naraku had placed that Shard in her back she had been absent and Sango had wondered if she had fallen afoul of another stronger youkai. Kirara could take care of herself it was true but even the strongest of youkai could be overwhelmed in battle by stronger numbers. She hugged the tiny youkai to her chest and sighed out a breath, not noticing the sharp look that Kiyoshi gave the pair though she did hear the strange thrumming purr that her companion gave. Communicating with the other neko in that fashion Kirara explained without comprehensible speech that Sango was not evil, simply misled.

 

 

 

Kiyoshi snorted, but gave an uplift of his chin in acknowledgement of her `words', he knew she was not lying and after all why would she bother? With the slight admonishment to Sango that should she remember any more details of her interactions with Naraku that she should tell them right away he swept out of the hut. He leaned against the side of the hut and looked up at the darkening sky, aware of the movements around him of the children of the village, winding up some game that Shippou and Tomoe were both involved in. He wished that he knew how many more carefree days there would be for his precious daughter, or if there was a way for him to guarantee her safety.

 

 

 

But he knew deep in his heart that while Naraku walked the earth that no one's children were safe, neither ningen nor youkai blood would save them. It lay on the shoulders of himself and any he could gather to his cause or set them on the path to oppose Naraku. There might be some that would think his only motivation for opposing Naraku was revenge and perhaps at first that might have been true, but the more Kiyoshi uncovered of the doings of this evil the more he knew in his heart that his own revenge was secondary to the safety of the very world they walked upon.

 

 

 

Which was odd, because as anyone that had known him would never think that Kiyoshi would put complete strangers into any sort of importance in his life. Not that he was an evil sort of youkai but simply that as a cat he could at times be rather self absorbed. But loving Yukiko had changed him just as surely as the love he saw each time he looked into Tomoe's eyes changed him. For her he would do whatever it took to stop the evil that threatened to destroy them all. Even if his hands were not the ones that destroyed Naraku it would be enough to know that he had warned people and given them knowledge of him. Evil such as Naraku's plotted best when it was kept secret and safe from those willing to do what it took to stop it, and Kiyoshi was determined to expose as much of Naraku's evil doings as he could.

 

 

 

It was not long before he realized that he had gathered up a crowd of small observers that were led by Shippou. He looked down to see the children sitting in a rough semi-circle and all gazing up at him expectantly. He raised an auburn brow which made a few of the girls giggle and finally Shippou asked him if he might tell them a story. He blinked and then chuckled, deciding on a story that his own father had told him when he was not much bigger than the children in front of him.

 

 

 

He told them the story of how the Great Cat once tricked a Kitsune out of his favorite top. At first the loss did not seem to discomfit the Kitsune all that much, as after all he had many things in his bag of tricks besides the top. Yet after a time it was all he could do to stop thinking of the top to the exclusion of all else. Things that once brought him joy were now paltry in comparison and so he went back to the Great Cat to demand his top back. The story then went through all the trials that the Great Cat made the Kitsune go through to get the top back, only in the end to find out that he could have avoided all of that if he had simply and humbly asked for its return. The lesson of the story of course was that pride was never worth as much as the things that were really important.

 

 

 

When he finished the children were smiling and clapping a bit, of course Kiyoshi had not been able to help himself from acting out some of the scenes and Tomoe had come up to hug him for telling them the story. He heard a snort behind him, and he found that others had come out apparently to hear his story including InuYasha.

 

 

 

“Stupid Cat. I'd have just beaned him on the head until he gave it back.”

 

 

 

Which of course made Kiyoshi near howl in cat laughter as only InuYasha seemed to be able to draw from him yet there it was, and Tomoe cautiously joined in though her own laugh was much softer and much more pleasing. Her little ears were up and she smiled at InuYasha again as if she really did think he was about the most wonderful thing she had ever seen.

 

 

 

Two more days passed in about the same fashion before Kouga returned to the village with Kagome. Apparently things had gone well with her family as she seemed happy enough, though once at the village she expressed her desire to return to the den. She missed the wolf tribe in general and Sashiko in particular, she could not wait to tell her dear friend the good news that she and Kouga were expecting their first cub. Business was taken care of first however, with Miroku filling Kouga in on all they had learned from Sango about their enemy Naraku. Much of it was as Kouga had feared, Sango being open enough and willing to help but simply not having information that they could use.

 

 

 

Kouga decided to set out with Kagome, Shippou, and InuYasha for the den, when they were done with their visit the plan was to have InuYasha bring Kagome back to rejoin with Miroku and Kiyoshi if he were back from taking Tomoe back to wherever he had decided to hide her for the time being. It remained to be seen whether or not Kouga would in fact be able to let Kagome go to resume her journey with her hanyou friend as his instincts were already against it. As it was he was being almost overly solicitous of her, doing everything from helping her with her furs and armor to showing her how to properly wear her foot wraps when her shoes finally gave out on her. She tried to protest at first about his coddling, and then InuYasha had stepped in and quietly explained to her that Kouga was being that way because he was trying to deal with the thought of her away from his side.

 

 

 

She'd let him `help' her then to his heart's content. Kagome knew that it was going to be difficult on her to be away from him at all, and now she understood that it would be just as hard on Kouga. Thinking about it wasn't helping, though InuYasha surprisingly had a good idea. They would travel no more than three or four days from the den from now on, and they would make sure that she had at least that many days with Kouga and her tribe between trips. In her final months of course they would suspend travel entirely and let the rumors of their possessing Jewel Shards draw out those seeking more.

 

 

 

Finally they arrived at the den, met with a chorus of excited howls and yips, wolf cubs and adults alike joining in the celebration of Kagome's return. Ginta and Hakkaku met them as they began the journey up the trail, greeting Kagome with glad cries of “nee-chan” and Ginta at least was quick to catch on what the new richness in Kagome's scent meant. He pounded Kouga on the back in congratulations before running up to share the joyous news with the rest of the pack. Aikiko was there running down to greet Shippou with a tight hug, and her mother Sashiko soon followed, glad that Kagome was finally home where she belonged. It was not long before she'd drawn her away to share with her all that had happened while she was gone and to hear Kagome's stories of her dreams and how she'd found out that she was with cub.

 

 

 

Sashiko took Kagome's hand as they walked and she listened to the tales of her Pack Leader's mate of her travels with the hanyou InuYasha and she could see from Kagome's words that the Inu was a good protector and a fine friend. It eased her worries somewhat that the ningen girl who she had such strong sisterly feelings towards was being taken care of even when she wasn't at home. Sashiko laughed with Kagome as she told of Kouga facing down her old friends with such grace and the way her mother had taken the news gladdened the female Yourouzoku. They had scarcely finished talking when the cubs of the pack over ran their position and flung arms around Kagome, Shippou and Aikiko had tried to keep them away for a bit but they had waited as long as they could in their excitement to see their leader's Mate.

 

 

 

Kagome nearly cried at how happy all of them were to see her, small arms hugging tight and little kisses pressed to her cheeks warming her heart so much. Aikiko smiled shyly at Shippou who bemusedly watched the pack cubs adoring his adopted mother and she tugged at his hand to pull him aside. She had been practicing, she told him in quiet whispers as her hands pushed back the pale strands of her hair behind her delicately pointed ears. Not quite white as her uncle Koichi's hair but close, and it shone softly in a way Shippou had remembered that his own mother's had, which made him smile to her encouragingly. He knew what she had been practicing and he'd told her time and again that she couldn't do it because she wasn't a Kitsune, but she'd looked at him with those big eyes and told him she would too.

 

 

 

In a fashion that Shippou found infinitely adorable she held out her hands even though they shook a little and she took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs.

 

 

 

“FOX FIRE!”

 

 

 

Now while she was of course incapable of really and truly creating Kitsune Bi, she had indeed managed to do something and that surprised Shippou and those of the Pack that had been idly watching. Pure white light lit her hands a moment and then in a flash encased the small stone she had targeted. When it faded Shippou could still sense demon magic on it and picked it up to study later. She blushed and bit her lip and toed the dirt with her foot as she waited for Shippou's proclamation about her trick. He grinned at her and presented her with a lollipop that Kagome had given him earlier as a reward.

 

 

 

“Wow Aikiko! That was great!”

 

 

 

So what if it wasn't really fox fire, it did have the potential to be something and Shippou was proud of her. She had Yourouzoku magic it seemed and while he didn't know what it was capable of he felt that it would serve her well in the future and now others would know how special she was too. It was such a good thing and he hugged her while her mother and Kagome exclaimed over her and then told Kouga together what she had done. Sashiko and Kagome exchanged glances as they had noticed how Shippou had had a hand in this and that without his encouragement and gentle explanations that perhaps the cub would never have known that she could do the rare wolf demon magic. All in all it had been a wonderful welcome home for Kagome.

 

 

 

Many miles from the glad homecoming of Kouga and Kagome a figure dressed in pale fur ran through the trees, his quarry had finally been spotted by one of his minions and he did not want to be late in his greeting of the one he had been nigh unto stalking. He had discovered a weakness that he fully intended to exploit, it was in his mind both his joy and duty to so do. That this weakness might bring about either the fall of a tai-youkai or the death of InuYasha was a bonus in and of itself, a bonus that he fully intended to enjoy. He leapt down from his perch in the trees to light almost effortlessly in front of the tall figure that had been quietly walking the forest paths, but before he could speak a whip that seemed composed of pure light spun out towards him faster than most mortal eyes could follow.

 

 

 

He barely avoided it but managed to make it look effortless, his voice ringing out and his words momentarily stopping the attack upon his person.

 

 

 

“Lord Sesshoumaru, we meet at last. Please allow me to offer you a mutually beneficial proposition before you slay me out of hand.”

 

 

 

 

AN: There we go, another chapter! Thank you for all your reviews and support! It means so much to me to know that you are enjoying my story.