InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pack Law ❯ Repurcussions ( Chapter 15 )

Pack Law

 

Chapter 15: Repercussions

 

Kagome stood alone at the large window, gazing out through the night sky. `I've faced Naraku before… why was I so afraid this time?' Turning her back against the window, she slid to the floor, burying her head in her arms, leaning on her knees.

 

`I never thought my family would be involved in something like this.' Kagome had spent the rest of the day pacing restlessly, refusing to have her minor injuries looked at until Miroku had called from the hospital. Souta was in a coma from inhaling the miasma and too much smoke. Her mother was doing better, but would be there for a few days for observation. `Why didn't I just start trying to purify the miasma right away? It was like I was frozen…'

 

InuYasha had been forced to bodily pick Kagome up and carry her down the steps as emergency crews, youkai and human alike, rushed to the shrine. She only had scrapes and bruises, nothing that required immediate medical attention. Still, the human authorities would start asking too many questions if they knew she had been in the house but got out relatively unscathed. The group had gotten out of the way before most people could get there. Miroku had waited with her family, swearing he'd get them the proper treatment.

 

Kagome fiddled with the jewel around her neck. The chunk clinked against her ring, safely stowed on its chain. She was finally alone. Hitomu and Sango were asleep, exhausted after their efforts during and after the battle. Miroku had been so proud of his son, erecting the complex barrier with relative ease. Tsukiyoshi and InuYasha had been drawn into a private discussion with Sesshomaru and his mate.

 

She shuddered, remembering the look of cold fury on the Inu no Taisho's face as he regarded her sitting morosely on a leather recliner. The centuries had done little to break the youkai's stand-off-ish façade. He'd stormed into the mansion about an hour after the group had arrived back, demanding to know what had happened. Kagome flushed, remembering the look on his face when she had broken down partway through her recitation of the events at the shrine. She had been unable to explain what had transpired inside the house without breaking down.

 

**********

 

Kagome's wide eyes bounced back and forth from her mother and brother lying prone on the floor to the figure sitting demurely against the wall. He wasn't solid. He wasn't real. He couldn't be alive; she very easily recalled his body disappearing as Sesshomaru had sliced through it with Bakusaiga, sending clumps of miasma to rain down upon Kaede's village…

 

“You insolent fools trapped me for five hundred years. Soon, very soon, I shall return to full power, and I shall finally have the entire jewel within my grasp again.”

 

Miroku gaped as Kagome reeled back, a pulse of pure evil energy beating off the other half of the Shikon no Tama on the other side of the room. It called to its other half, its sister. Miroku grabbed his staff, lengthening it and shoving it in the tatami mat to anchor a barrier.

 

“Kagome! Kagome, listen to me!” He shook the girl slightly, trying to draw her horrified gaze away from the two members of her immediate family, knowing she was trying to tell if they were breathing, knowing she was looking for a sign of life from them. “Kagome!” She finally turned teary blue eyes on him. “You must focus. Protect them, focus with me… we need to get them out of here, and we need to get the jewel shard.”

 

Naraku cackled, his ghostly body reaching down to clutch the shard. “I think not, monk. The jewel is quite beautiful as it taints; I believe it will darken as the wench watches her family suffer.” Holding the chunk of shard, Naraku extended his hand, drawing forth a miasma. It was much weaker than anything he would normally have been able to create, but it was enough to start Kagome coughing, distracting her from putting her spiritual power behind Miroku's wavering barrier. Arm to his face, Miroku did the only thing he could think of… he dragged Kagome, kicking and screaming, from the house slowly filling with a still-lethal poison.

 

“No!!! Let me go! Souta!!! MAMA!!!” Kagome screamed, writhed, tried to get a grip on something, anything she could use to get back to her loved ones. A second later, her home had erupted into flames. Souta and her mother were trapped inside the burning inferno…

 

**********

 

Sesshomaru's mate, Tomomi, had been much more understanding, pulling the crying miko into a nearly bone-crushing hug and letting her sob out her frustrations. After she had calmed, Kagome had been unable to avoid staring at the tall, beautiful youkai. A youkai of the earth, she looked so similar to one of Naraku's incarnations… and yet, there were marked differences. She had Kagura's facial structure, was around the same height, but bore completely different coloring. Tomomi's green eyes were a shade darker than Shippou's, the color of the grass at dusk in summer. Her light blue hair reflected the color of the sky on an early spring day.

 

Sesshomaru had caught her staring and inclined his head. She blushed. “Excuse me, but she seems so familiar.” Kagome wasn't sure how to broach the topic, but just had to know. “Is she…”

 

“Indeed. It appears this Sesshomaru and his younger brother have more in common than originally assumed. The souls of both of our mates transcended time to return to us.”

 

Kagome blushed even darker at that; InuYasha refused to look anybody in the eye, even her. At this, Kagome's hackles rose. Anger rose from sorrow, she bit her lip and clenched her fists. “Mate? You must be mistaken, Lord Sesshomaru. It would be quite difficult to be InuYasha's mate when I'm not even considered pack.” Kagome almost spat out the end of the line, recalling how InuYasha had commented on her “non-pack human” status when she had first been brought to the den that week.

 

Sesshomaru had raised one perfectly-groomed eyebrow; Tomomi's eyes widened at the power flaring up around the little miko. Tsukiyoshi, who had greeted his mother happily but formally, took a few steps back. `It is unwise to press the buttons of an emotional miko…'

 

The other youkai and hanyou in the room seemed to agree with his unvoiced assessment; Shippou left, dragging Sarah with him, insisting they should “check on dinner.” Sesshomaru whirled around and informed his beta they would be meeting upstairs in a few minutes.

 

Only Hitomu, Kagome and InuYasha remained in the room, the hostility in the air nearly crackling around the miko's aura.

 

InuYasha took a step forward, glaring a “get out” look at Hitomu. Knowing he was tempting fate, Hitomu turned his head to gaze out the window, ignoring his alpha's more than obvious wishes. Biting back a growl, InuYasha turned back to the miko. “Kagome…”

 

Kagome swallowed a sob, the sound bringing InuYasha's ears plastered to his head. “Just… don't, InuYasha. Not now. I can't do this.” She shook her head. “Just… leave me alone.”

 

Hitomu rose, as if he were going to console her. She whirled on him, as well. “You, too! I'm not in the mood for this right now! Just leave me alone!”

 

She had gotten her wish. Kagome had been left alone in the room for several hours. She found being alone was almost as trying as being surrounded by people; when she wasn't being forced to verbally relive the events at home, she found herself thinking about them. Trying not to worry about her family, she found herself almost in tears at the thought she'd never see Kaede or any of the villagers again. InuYasha's Kaze no Kizu had forced the well to cave in on itself.

 

`I guess I won't be going back, after all. They were right.' Kagome sighed. Had she failed her friends? Was there anything she could have done to prevent what had happened? `Maybe I should have just given up on school.' She recalled Shippou's triumphant declaration to InuYasha just moments after the discovery and scrunched up her face in annoyance. `I can't believe he thought I sealed the well! Didn't he have any faith in me?' It was obvious from the way everybody had spoken to her that InuYasha had believed she had done something to make the well stop working. Nobody had outwardly said, though, that he thought she sealed it. Kagome was deeply disturbed by his apparently lack of faith in her.

 

Looking up, Kagome saw headlights making their way up the driveway. Her heart stopped somewhere in the vicinity of her throat. Miroku was back. Thoughts of InuYasha flew out of her head over her anxiety over her little brother.

 

**********

 

InuYasha growled to himself as Sesshomaru, Tomomi and their son left his office. `Pretentious assholes, the lot of them!' What had begun as a simple discussion on how to keep Naraku away from the remaining hunk of the Shikon no Tama had turned into what amounted into an “InuYasha is an idiot” free-for-all for the group. Sango and Kirara had looked pityingly at him as they left, Sesshomaru insisting he could handle this part on his own.

 

“You've spent the last five centuries insisting you'd never take a mate because of the women who scorned you. Yet I hear you've informed Hitomu the miko is your mate.”

 

InuYasha's claws bit into his palms, blood dripping to the floor as he imagined digging them into the junior lecher's neck. `Damn it all to hell! How many fucking people is he going to tell?' He sunk his claws in deeper, relishing in the pain as Kagome's angry comment echoed in his ears. The physical pain was nothing compared to the memory…

 

“Mate? You must be mistaken, Lord Sesshomaru. It would be quite difficult to be InuYasha's mate when I'm not even considered pack.” Anyone who didn't know Kagome would only see anger in those eyes. But in the year he'd traveled with the girl, InuYasha had learned to look deeper than the surface. Below the flames of anger were buried a deep, dark emotion. InuYasha knew that feeling well: rejection. He'd thought he'd worn that same pain for five hundred fucking years!

 

`But I blew the fucking well up myself. I did this!' InuYasha may have had the “idiot” act down pat, but he wasn't as stupid as he led everybody to believe. He knew damn well he had screwed up, big time. In fact, had there been a “fuck-up Olympics”, he was sure he could have swept first, second, and maybe even third place. InuYasha threw himself into his office chair, rapping his forehead against the desk. “Baka!” Thud. “Baka!” Thud. “Baka!” Thud.

 

InuYasha vaguely wished he could kick his own ass. He'd spent so many years wallowing in self-pity, determined that Kagome had left him, sure she had finally “come to her senses” about loving a vile hanyou and turned to a human in her own time. The sight of Kagome pressed up against Hitomu flashed in his mind, bringing a low growl to his throat.

 

`No more of that shit!' InuYasha's youkai rumbled in agreement. Kagome was his. She'd always been his, damn it! Not Kouga, not Miroku or Houjou or even that useless Akitoki bozo had been able to take her from his side. She'd always been loyal to him! His ears flattened even closer to his skull as he reminded himself of the fact that had somehow managed to escape him for the past five centuries. `She's pissed as hell, though. Those other guys never forgot how amazing she is,' his human voice piped up, making him feel even worse.

 

`Make it better.' InuYasha's youkai was a bit more pragmatic. He'd fucked up, so it was time to fix it, right? `Easier said than done,' he responded, noting just how much of a jackass he had been. Sure, he'd been cruel before. He had constantly compared Kagome to Kikyou, knowing how much it hurt when he called her “weak”, “pathetic”, or referred to her as a “shard detector.” But she'd never left his side, not for long, at least.

 

`Our mate is loyal and strong. She wants to be with us.' There wasn't much gray area where his youkai was concerned. His human heart, however, could see a gaping chasm of middle-ground. `We treated her like dirt! We told her she wasn't part of the family. But she's the one who brought us all together…' InuYasha allowed his thoughts to stray to memories he had long repressed; Kagome holding Shippou close as he cried, `She adopted Shippou when most human women would have let the child starve.' Kagome throwing herself at Miroku when he tried to suck in InuYasha, `Keh. Crazy wench could've died, and all to prove a point! She's lucky the lecher moved quickly.' Sango sobbing on Kagome's shoulder after stealing the Tetsusaiga to barter for the resurrected Kohaku, `Hell, Miroku and I might have just let Sango go, but Kagome gave her a shoulder to cry on, became a pack sister to her when Sango's family was destroyed.'

 

The events he'd forced himself to forget smashed into him as a tidal wave, making him feel both better with each reminder of Kagome's steadfast purity, and worse with every memory of him belittling her, calling her names and making her feel inferior. `Well,' he rationalized, `I'll have several of her lifetimes to make up for it.' As he pulled a small youkai-bone box from his desk drawer, his door creaked open.

 

Looking up, InuYasha saw Miroku, still splattered in blood, and shot to his feet. A cursory sniff didn't detect any Higurashi blood on the doctor, but he was anxious all the same. “What took so long? What's going on?” Another sniff and he could smell Kagome's tears. “How's Kagome?”

 

Miroku looked ready to collapse. In a moment, InuYasha had his beta settled in the most comfortable chair. As gruff as the hanyou could be, he was attentive to his pack members' needs. Unfortunately, InuYasha couldn't let Miroku go sleep until he had gotten Miroku's viewpoint. He'd been in the house with Kagome, and could provide a viewpoint they hadn't been able to hear yet.

 

Miroku knew what InuYasha needed, and got straight to the point, explaining what had happened when he followed Kagome into her home. “Naraku still has part of the jewel. Sango was correct; he was pulling Ken's strings.” InuYasha's eyes darted to Miroku's hands, clasped over his stomach. The doctor knew what was on his alpha's mind and shook his head, displaying the whole hand. “No, my kazaana has not yet returned. I believe the Naraku we saw was only a shadow, an echo of his former self. He is well and truly trapped within the jewel, and will not be at his full strength until he collects the whole thing.” Miroku flexed his hand, studying his palm. “Still, I think I'll keep a glove with me at all times. Hito and Miyuki, too.”

 

InuYasha's eyes widened, glowing golden with concern. `Kagome isn't safe! She has the rest of the Shikon no Tama!' His only consolation was Naraku's inability to make a physical body. Still, his echo could produce a miasma, one potent enough to kill humans. Speaking of which, “How's the runt?”

 

Miroku ran a hand through his sweaty hair, “He'll live, we think.”

 

“We think?” That didn't sound very encouraging.

 

The doctor nodded tiredly, “We're clearing out his lungs now. A wind youkai is doing what she can, but we're not sure how he'll react. Her mother is awake, but has a small concussion. Something probably hit her as the house was collapsing.”

 

“Kagome must stay here at the den where we can protect her. Until we know who else is working for Naraku, we can't let her out of our sights.”

 

Miroku agreed, albeit a bit unwillingly. “What about her family?”

 

“Sesshomaru is putting them up in a hotel. It's the least we can do. It'll protect them, to keep them away from Kagome. We'll have them under surveillance for protection. Her grandfather is there now.”

 

As Miroku shifted, the scent of Kagome's tears wafted over to the hanyou again, who grimaced. “How's Kagome?”

 

“I saw her when I came in. I think she's lying on that couch Miyuki sent from America. She seemed happy to know her family will be well, but she won't take kindly to being constrained to the den.”

 

InuYasha knew that, but had a plan, “We'll distract her. Bring your daughter back here. You and the old woman were never able to finish Kagome's training. Miyuki can do it; she's almost as skilled as you are.”

 

Miroku nodded. “I would feel better to have her closer to home, if there's the danger of the kazaana returning.” He thought of his and Sango's first-born, a beautiful young woman who had easily mastered her spiritual powers and was now training in the States. A moment later, Miroku staggered into the hallway, dreaming of a hot shower and his comfy bed.

 

InuYasha pulled his shoulders back. Biting down his pride, he stepped down to the room where he knew Kagome now lay. Angry or not, he wouldn't let her be alone. After all, she'd never left him alone, had she?

 

A/N:

 

Tomomi - “Wisdom and Beauty”

 

I couldn't help myself. The idea of InuYasha actually *headdesking* just wouldn't get out of my head, no matter how many times I slammed MINE against MY desk.

 

“Thank you” to everybody who's reviewed so far. Specifically -

Kokoronagomu (you were a chapter ahead of me on Kagome's actions, though I hope it makes a little more sense now.), Lil Elf (it was a total coincidence, but I giggled nonetheless), pokiepal, Ethereal Siren (I agree. I thought long and hard about how it would be possible for the well to be destroyed without actually sealing it, as the magic *does* lie in the shaft. Here, two of the furrows of the wind scar actually caused the well to cave in on itself, sealing it rather effectively), catbaker (geez, that would make Hitomu's entire WEEK!), Kryptoinuyasha, inuyashaloverr, Sovereignty (Aaaand Shippou is officially pleased.), angel-up-above-heaven, wbk (I've been waiting *months* for Shippou to be able to say that!), Hentai Strumpet

 

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or any other characters from the anime/manga. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

 

I do, however, own the original characters in this story. Please don't steal them! (I may let you borrow them if you ask politely.)