InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sesshoumaru's Secret Life ❯ Return of the Tenseiga ( Chapter 19 )

Chapter 19: Return of the Tenseiga

 

“Miroku, get down here now,” Kagome yelled. She could not take care of the babies and their mother at the same time. She gave a quick check on the two pups, the boy was wiggling around strongly; the girl was moving, but weakly.

 

Miroku scrambled down the shaft into the larger den area his face pale and drawn because of the tone in Kagome's voice. “What's wrong?” he asked as he tried to squish himself into the very close quarters of the den.

 

“Take care of the babies. Keep them warm and stimulate the little girl to move,” Kagome commanded as she turned her attentions to Sesshoumaru. She began CPR as she had done for the little girl with no results. Miroku looked on in shock as he rubbed the infant girl getting her to warm up and squirm. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the den, hunched over with the two boys in his lap, the little girl in his arms.

 

“Sesshoumaru,” he whispered tearfully. By all that's holy, please don't let her die, he prayed.

 

Kagome sat back, panic beginning to overtake her. She couldn't get any kind of response from the demoness at all and her skin was so cold. Oh no, she's lost too much blood, what do I do?

 

Suddenly Sesshoumaru's whole body pulsed; the two humans looked on in surprise. They waited and at first it looked like nothing was happening when the cold and limp body pulsed again. This time Kagome could see some of the color coming back into Sesshoumaru's cheeks. The miko girl put her fingers on the artery at the demoness' throat. Still she felt nothing. One more pulse and this time the teen grinned excitedly at Miroku who had his three children hugged to him tightly. She could feel the skin warming and now there was a definite heart beat.

 

“I don't know what's going on, but she's alive,” Kagome exclaimed, tears of joy running down her face. Miroku also was crying loudly in relief. He scooted closer to his wife and was looking down on her when she opened her eyes.

 

“Miroku,” she rasped out. “Why are you crying? Our children…”

 

“They're okay, they're all right here, two boys and a girl, Sesshoumaru.” Miroku stopped his weeping as he gently stroked the still pale cheek. “You gave us a bit of a scare, I thought you had…” he couldn't finish as he broke down into a fresh batch of tears.

 

“You died, Sesshoumaru,” Kagome interjected still awed by what she had just witnessed. “You died and then you came back to life.”

 

“It was the Tenseiga,” Sesshoumaru replied weakly.

 

“The Tenseiga?” questioned Kagome, “but that sword broke, the day of the battle with Naraku, I saw it in pieces.”

 

“Yes but many of those pieces embedded themselves in my body. I still carry them. It is hard to explain but somehow I know it was the Tenseiga. I could almost hear it speaking to me, calling me back.” Sesshoumaru closed her eyes and then opened them again. “My pups, I want to see my pups.”

 

Miroku placed the pups so Sesshoumaru could see them and touch them. She smiled at her mate as she touched and smelt each one, allowing them to do the same. “You need to let them smell your scent,” the demoness told her mate. “That way they will know you as their parent.”

 

“I will, but please, rest now,” he ordered her kindly, leaning over and kissing her gently on the forehead. “You need to give yourself time to heal.” Sesshoumaru smiled at the two humans and did as her mate commanded, drifting off almost as soon as she closed her eyes.

 

Miroku stayed awake and kept guard, erecting a holy barrier at the entrance to the den in case any demons had followed the blood trail. He held the babies, one after the other, letting them take their turns at Sesshoumaru's breasts so they could gain nourishment and strength.

 

Kagome broke down for a few moments from the stress and joy of what had happened. I can't believe I just did that, she thought not without a bit of pride. Miroku just smiled and allowed her some privacy by pretending he didn't notice her tears.

 

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The next morning Sesshoumaru awoke feeling stronger than she had the day before. She felt a warm body pressed against her back and turned her head to see Kagome snuggled up under Miroku's robes with her, two of the three pups warm and sleeping between them.

 

“Sesshoumaru,” Miroku whispered from the left of where they were lying. “Kagome was exhausted, I hope you don't mind but it was getting pretty cold last night.”

 

“It is not unpleasant,” Sesshoumaru returned a bit surprised she hadn't felt the teen girl sleeping beside her. Her mate was holding the third child, the little girl. He had kept her with him though-out the night to make sure she would be okay. She was smaller and weaker than her two brothers but was doing well, especially since she had been able to nurse, gaining the much needed colostrum and antibodies from her mother's rich milk.

 

Sesshoumaru looked up at her mate who had scooted over closer to her. She rested her head in his lap being careful not to jar the two male pups or Kagome and wake them. “We need to choose names,” she sighed as she pet the little girls white baby hair. Her ears stood straight up just like Inuyasha's unlike the two boys, their ears were bent over at the tips.

 

“I've been thinking about that,” Miroku grinned. “I would like to name one of the boys after my father, Yuzuru.”

 

Sesshoumaru nodded her agreement. “The other boy we will name after my father, Touga.”

 

“I like that. I don't think I've ever heard your father's name before,” Miroku stated.

 

“It has been a long time since I have heard it as well,” the demoness sighed, lost for a moment in old memories. She brought her attention back to the small bundle held in her mate's arms. “That only leaves this little one.” They both looked into sparkling golden eyes that looked like stars on fire. “Kagetsu,” Sesshoumaru breathed out.

 

“A perfect name,” returned Miroku. “She is our bright moon.”

 

“That's so pretty,” Kagome sighed out beside the inu demoness. She had been awake for awhile but did not want to disturb the two parents as they picked names for their children, but now she couldn't resist and small tears of happiness came to the corners of her eyes.

 

“I do not think I will ever get used to how emotional humans are,” Sesshoumaru groaned. The two boys began to stir and the group sat up, each taking a child and passing them from one to the other as each baby had a turn to nurse.

 

“We need to leave,” stated Sesshoumaru as the last pup fell asleep. “Rin must be worried.”

 

The group gathered the children and wrapped them in clean towels making sure to cover their heads. Kagome re-applied the make-up to again cover Sesshoumaru's markings and then they all exited the den, Sesshoumaru a bit shakily wearing her mate's outer robe as her kimono was covered in blood. Miroku gripped her arm worriedly. Sesshoumaru accepted his help but was soon able to walk on her own, albeit a bit slowly.

 

They returned to the village going back though the hole in the back of the hut so others would not see them and know they had never been there. When they gathered their belongings and Sesshoumaru had changed they left the hut to be accosted by almost everyone who saw them.

 

Miroku kept a close eye on his mate, all the attention her and the babies were getting was making her edgy and nervous and she began to growl low in warning. “It's okay, Rumiko,” he said to her so his wife wouldn't take it into her head to use her claws to rip the young woman apart that was cooing over the eldest boy, Yuzuru.

 

Kagome kept the boy clutched tightly to her which calmed Sesshoumaru as she saw how ardently the miko girl protected the child. They collected a most excited Rin thanking the woman who had kept her, allowing her family to see the pups but not to touch them. Saying goodbye they left as quickly as politely possible to return to Sesshoumaru's lands.

 

The group of four stopped as lunch time approached, Sesshoumaru and Rin settling down to take care of the pups needs while Kagome and Miroku started a fire and cooked some fish and rice.

 

Rin was very excited and happy to be helping her adopted mother with the babies and Sesshoumaru made sure that she introduced each pup to their older, human sister, letting them sniff her causing Rin to giggle madly. The small girl sniffed each child back. “They all smell different,” she told the demoness which impressed Sesshoumaru greatly. She didn't think that human noses were well enough attuned to tell the difference.

 

As they all sat under the large tree after eating, Miroku noticed how pensive his wife was looking. “Is something the matter?” he asked.

 

“I was just thinking. The Tenseiga is part of me now perhaps I can still use its power. It did save me so the power is still potent even though it is no longer a sword.”

 

“Possibly,” Miroku conceded waiting for Sesshoumaru to continue her thought. He wasn't sure what she was thinking about and what it had to do with the former sword.

 

“If I knew I was still capable of bringing back the dead, I could use it to help Kohaku if we were to remove his shard.”

 

This was something that everyone had been puzzling over for quite some time; how to get the shard from Kohaku without killing him. Miroku knew Sango would be immensely happy to finally have her brother back and be able to give one of the three remaining shards to Kagome to help finish the jewel. It was still garnering far too much attention because of the power other demons could sense.

 

“How can we test it?” Kagome questioned, thinking the same as Miroku.

 

Sesshoumaru looked at the two humans, she knew they were probably not going to like what she was going to suggest. “We would have to kill something for me to try and bring back.”

 

“What? No, we can't kill people. What if it doesn't work?” Kagome cried out.

 

“I did not say it had to be a human. An animal or a demon would work just as well.”

 

“I don't know,” Miroku interjected unconvinced. He didn't relish killing an animal and he certainly didn't want to approach a demon while his wife was still weak and they had the babies and Rin to consider.

 

“You have killed demons in the past and you have hunted and killed animals before, why are you being so squeamish about it now?” Sesshoumaru replied confused at the reluctance she sensed from the two humans.

 

“Well a demon is out, I don't sense one anywhere around at all,” Miroku stated.

 

“What about that bird?” Rin, who up until now had been silently listening, spoke up. She was certain her Sesshoumaru would be able to bring the small creature back. The little girl pointed to a crow that was sitting in the branch on the tree across from them.

 

“That would do,” Sesshoumaru replied.

 

“So who's going to kill it?” Kagome asked.

 

“It will have to be one of you,” Sesshoumaru told them. She was still healing from her ordeal and wanted to save what energy she had to use the power of the sword shards within her.

 

Miroku and Kagome looked at each other, neither really wanting to do it but finally Kagome pulled her bow from her back and notched an arrow.

 

“Are you sure, Kagome?” Miroku questioned.

 

“I've got the bow and arrow, I don't have to get as close to it as you do so I probably won't scare it away. I hope you can bring it back, Sesshoumaru.”

 

“That is what we are about to find out.”

 

Kagome aimed and loosed her arrow and it found its mark. The bird dropped out of the tree with the arrow embedded in its chest. Sesshoumaru stood and walked over to the bird, she attempted to remove the arrow only to have it burn her hand.

 

“Opps sorry,” Kagome uttered apologetically as she pulled the purifying arrow from the small body.

 

Sesshoumaru gave her a bit of a glare and then turned her attention to the dead bird. She called upon the power of the Tenseiga and within a few moments she saw the little death imps surrounding the crow. She lifted her claws and slashed them down though the grotesque creatures and smiled in satisfaction as they slowly dissolved under her hand. A few seconds later the bird hopped onto its feet, spread its wings and flew off into the sky, cawing loudly in complaint.

 

“Well I guess that answers that question,” Miroku stated in awe watching as the crow disappeared over the trees.

 

“Sango will be so happy,” Kagome stated.

 

“Yes,” answered Sesshoumaru glad that she had not lost the power of her father's sword even if that power was not as strong as it once had been. She had felt the difference in the energy immediately. She wondered if it was because she did not have all the shards of the sword inside her. She decided she would have to go back to the area they had battled Naraku and retrieve the rest.