InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Time After Time ❯ Interlude ( Chapter 27 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: kanna37 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 03.25.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 463 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 03.25.2011 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 463 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter 27: Interlude
Before Sugimi could even articulate his own rage at being crossed once again by the bitch, Kagome was standing next to him, and Kana, seeing her, knew for certain in that moment – they were mates, and he was forever out of her reach.
Her rage knew no bounds – as the Lady of the South, she wasn't used to having anything she wanted forbidden to her. Both Sugimi and Kagome felt her temper spiral out of control as her powers rose to her command, and within an instant, Kagome had her reiki pulled from within to light the hall passage with a brilliant pink glow.
She allowed just enough of her reiki out to top Kana's power and intimidate – and it worked, Kana's power dwindling before the might of a priestess, even as she scowled in frustrated rage.
“Don't do it, Kana. It isn't worth your life. What do you really think you're gaining here? Even if he and I weren't mated now-” she blushed, “-he still wouldn't want you. Do you really think pissing him off is going to change that? I know you're smarter than that. Pull your power back, and leave, or this won't end so nicely, and then you'll have to face Sesshoumaru, and explain why his palace is burning down around his ears.”
Kana glared at her, then hissed, “This isn't over, bitch.”
Kagome was just about to get angry at the appellation when Sugimi stopped her with, “Don't, Kagome. Technically, you are a bitch now. My bitch.”
Startled, she looked up at him with a cherry blush, and blinked, then grinned. “You know, you're right! Now I don't have to take it as an insult!”
With that, Kana just gritted her teeth and turned on her heel; despite her anger, her body was tight with desire at seeing his well-remembered body half nude, and she stalked off down the hall, already plotting their demise, her anger fueled by frustrated passion.
Sugimi watched her for a moment, eyes narrowed – he knew her too well. “This isn't over, like she said – she will attempt to kill you, and thereby, me, at some point, Kagome.”
Yawning, she looked at Kana's disappearing back down the hall, and turned to go back to the bed. “I'll worry about that later, Sugimi – I'm too tired right now to think.”
Just then, the servant sent for their supper returned, and brought in a nicely laden tray for the new couple, bowing and congratulating them. Sugimi looked closely at him, and realized that he was one who had also served when he was the Western Lord. With a smile, he thanked the male, and then slid the door closed behind him as he turned to look at his once again naked little mate who was still yawning, but waiting for him in bed, with the tray settled across her knees.
Quickly, she had his food served and his sake poured, and then as soon as he began to eat, she did as well, hungrily scarfing everything in front of her, to her mate's amusement. “Hungry, my dear?” he chuckled.
“Well,” she waved her chopsticks around in the air in emphasis, “I haven't eaten since supper yesterday. All I had this morning with my mom before I came looking for you was some hot tea, so yeah, I'm hungry.”
“Well,” he sighed, “at least you have a good appetite, not like most human women, who seem to eat like birds so they don't gain any weight. I don't understand why human males seem to want their females so bony – I much prefer your healthy, though slender body, to one that reminds me of a skeleton.”
Kagome laughed, putting her hand over her mouth so she didn't spray her tea everywhere at the picture his words brought to mind, and shook her head at him. “D-don't do that! I almost c-choked on my tea,” she stuttered out after she managed to swallow.
He chuckled at her, then yawned himself, and finally, taking the empty tray and setting it aside, he scooted down in the bed as she did, and stripped off his hakama, then curled up around his sweet little mate – who was already beginning to doze off, and sighed, more content in that moment than he had ever been in his long life.
'I love you, mate,' he whispered into her mind, and she sent the thought back to him as she slipped into sleep, along with a huge surge of love.
With that, and a smile on his face, he, too, drifted off into sleep, and the room grew quiet, with the breathing of its occupants the only noise to be heard.
~oOo~
They left the rest of the palace in an uproar, however, and while they were getting a good sleep in, everyone else was left arguing and fighting amongst themselves over what, exactly, had happened.
Sango was happy – knowing what she knew about youkai, and how Sugimi had fallen hard over her friend, she didn't have a problem with them being mated at all.
Miroku was merely concerned that there would be trouble from Kana, and said so, repeatedly.
Sesshoumaru agreed with him. He was also rather disappointed that Kagome was out of his reach – not that he was in love with her or anything, but he was fascinated by her, found her attractive, was admittedly becoming fond of her, and enjoyed her knowledge. Other than that, he was simply annoyed at the uproar in his palace, and even more annoyed at Kana for her spoiled disregard for his rules in his domain.
Inuyasha, despite knowing that this was coming, was heartbroken, and it would take a while for him to bounce back from it. Funny enough, he blamed both himself, and Kikyou for having lost Kagome in the first place. It was the first thing he'd ever blamed Kikyou for.
Shippo, and Rin thought the whole thing was great, once they understood what had happened. Shippo especially – being youkai, even though young, he understood about mates, and what it meant to take one, rather than a convenient wife, as his own parents had been mate-bonded, and that was why his mother had died when her mate had, leaving him alone. He knew that Kagome would be taken care of for the rest of her now long, long life, and that was fine with him.
Yuuka was more pleased than she could ever say to see Sugimi happy at last, and glad, in some ways, that she had gotten the chance to see him mated, and meet the woman who was his other half. Surprisingly, miko or no, she was the perfect foil to her powerful mate, and Yuuka could see quite well the devotion between them. It eased her heart, and made it that much easier for her to look towards her own coming death so that she could finally be whole again, with her own beloved mate on the other side.
Shaking her head at the chattering, yelling, loud group still all upset at the two who had finally returned, she finally put her foot down and brought all yapping to a halt by the simple expedient of having the vining ivy climbing the walls of the palace on this side, suddenly leave their homes on the walls, and wrap themselves around most of the group. She wasn't, however, dumb enough to do that to Sesshoumaru.
Once silence had fallen, she stepped forward, and pointing out each person as she went, she took care of their concerns/complaints.
“Sango-san,” she bowed towards the taijiya, and Sango, startled, bowed politely back, slightly hampered by her ivy bindings. “I am pleased that you are happy for them – your knowledge of our ways is a good thing in this instance – they need all the support they can get.”
Sango nodded, knowing the woman was correct – she need look no further than Kana for proof of that statement. And she would, too – stand behind her friend and the daiyoukai she loved.
Next, Miroku.
“Miroku-sama, I agree with you that Kana is going to be a problem. A very big, witchy one. We all need to keep our eyes on her as we go along.” Miroku nodded, glad that she had heeded his words, and addressed them aloud to everyone.
“Sesshoumaru-sama, you know she is not your one, and though you enjoy her company, and have a certain affection towards her, she is a friend for you, and nothing more. You will eventually find your own mate.”
Then she looked at Inuyasha with sympathy in her gaze, and said, “Remember what we talked about yesterday, Inuyasha. And just think about this; if you had mated Kagome, it would have been an incomplete mating, and when she inevitably met your father, you all three would have suffered horrendously. Even more so when you met your own mate, so be thankful that the kami protected you all from that horrible fate.”
She looked around for the children, but they had run off to play, and that left one person to deal with... Satori.
Kana eyed her as she stood on the steps of the shiro, head held high, and wondered what Sugimi's ex-wife would choose to do; cause more problems, or leave the couple alone?
With a decided smirk, she looked Yuuka over for a moment, and then shrugged. “I'll leave them alone – I want to see her put Kana in her place a few more times, since I hate that particular wench more than any human out there.”
Yuuka sighed with relief – having Satori and Kana against her could have been very stressful, and she was glad Satori hated Kana so much – it had helped Kagome's case a great deal.
As she loosened her vines away from the people on the covered porch all began to disperse, and head into the evening meal. Yuuka looked up into the heavens. “I will be so glad when my sojourn here is over, and I can join you, Daiki – this has become too much without you to help me deal with it.”
A small sakura blossom gently glided down to her hands, and with a faint look of confusion, she looked around; the only sakura trees here in the Western Palace were on the other side of the shiro, and the wind wasn't blowing from that direction.
And then she caught a faint scent, but one she would never forget, and that's when she knew...
Daiki was still there, and he was waiting for her.
She smiled as she thought of her own death.
~oOo~
With an angered narrow-eyed gaze, Kikyou stared up at the northern hills and and scowled even harder – she had finally figured out that Inuyasha had lied to her about the direction they had taken.
Because she had had to stay so far back, ostensibly because of Sesshoumaru, she hadn't realized for some time that the group of travelers was not anywhere in the northern provinces, and when Naraku had come looking for more information, he'd punished her for her lack of knowledge of the whereabouts of Inuyasha and his group. Severely.
He was also still watching her closely to make sure she wasn't deliberately lying to him.
The spider was getting nervous; Sesshoumaru joining up with his half-brother's group was something he had never considered – the two seemingly hated each other so much that he wondered what extraordinary circumstance had pushed them to set aside their own hostilities to join against him.
And ever since they had joined up, everything had started going wrong for him.
Kikyou never knew where they were, Kanna's mirror had been destroyed by something extremely powerful, he couldn't get the first clue of what had been done, or who had done it, and his saimyousho had started disappearing before they could ever get back to him with any information.
The bottom line was that current events were a complete blank to him, and he didn't like stumbling blindly about. That was how you got killed.
On top of that, the only information he'd gotten out of Kikyou had greatly concerned him – the male that had confronted her that day in Inuyasha's forest. She had no idea who it was, as she'd never seen him, but she could tell him that it was someone she'd never heard before, and that someone seemed mighty attached to Kagome.
The spider scowled; that little bitch was the biggest thorn in his side, and he desperately wanted her dead. Unfortunately, she seemed to have kami's own luck, because no matter how badly he'd beaten the tachi in the past, she'd always escaped with her life.
Perhaps he should concentrate all his efforts on killing her...
Of course, he had to find them first.
Plus, there was that wench, Kana, and the shard he had given her... he hadn't gotten anything out of her for his efforts, though if she hadn't come across the group, it wasn't like she could do anything, and once again, he came back to the not knowing where they were thing.
Gritting his teeth in frustration, he considered different schemes that could be launched against Kagome, and the only thing he could come up with, was one involving Kikyou – and Inuyasha.
He knew Inuyasha's weakness to Kikyou, and it was an easy bet that if he could get Kikyou to go along with the plan, he could force the hanyou into a 'choose to save one or the other' scenario. Knowing how Kagome felt about Inuyasha, she would see his choice of saving Kikyou as a betrayal, and would be heartbroken, and thus, easy to kill. Such a betrayal would also turn the monk and slayer against Inuyasha, because they were totally devoted to Kagome.
In one little instant, he could completely destroy the tachi, leaving everyone at odds with each other, and no threat to him.
There was, however, a wild card - Sesshoumaru. There was no telling what he would do, but it was fairly certain that he would protect Kagome, as she was the one that could track the shards, and he knew for a fact that the daiyoukai had no use for Kikyou whatsoever.
But, if he struck correctly, he could keep Sesshoumaru's attention on protecting his little girl child, and there was a good chance then that his scheme would work.
Perhaps he should think about tracking Kikyou back down, and convincing her to join in his latest plan... he knew it would not be difficult to do so, as she desperately wanted rid of Kagome herself – she couldn't stand the competition.
With a slight smirk, he thought about just how angry she was at being tricked by Inuyasha. He was also pretty positive she blamed Kagome for what was going on...
That dawning hatred for the girl who had taken over her life was all he needed to gain a foothold into the destruction of his most bitter enemies.
~oOo~
Dawn the next morning found Sugimi, Kagome, and the rest of the group all up and ready to go, having a last minute planning session in the library, while eating one last warm meal before leaving for the forest of Illusions, as they had nicknamed it after hearing Hojo call it that.
The young human male was devastated to learn that Kagome was mated to the powerful daiyoukai, but accepted it with good grace, and even congratulated the pair, at which Kagome gave the poor boy a hug and a kiss on the cheek – Sugimi merely thanked the young man, not even bothering to become jealous – there was absolutely no need, and he didn't mind that she had embraced the boy to comfort him.
She was his mate, he lived in her as much as she did in him, and knew exactly how she viewed Hojo and every other person around her. He had no competition out there, and he knew it, so jealousy was a moot point and a waste of time.
Sugimi formally introduced Yuuka to the group, and explained what she was, and why she would be joining them – everyone was pleased to meet the attractive, pleasant woman, all accept Kana, of course.
The daiyoukai had discussed the Southern Lady's continued participation in the group with Kagome, Sugimi all for sending her right back to her home, but Kagome talked him around – she felt it would be much easier to contain her malice and keep her from doing too much damage when she was surrounded by people loyal to he and Kagome. They would have an entire group of people watching her every action, making it much easier to contain her than if she was at home, where she had an entire province full of people that would do her bidding.
Reluctantly, he agreed, knowing she had a good point, but not wanting the nasty woman anywhere around himself or his mate.
Kagome really didn't, either – despite the fact that she knew how he felt about the woman, and that he had no attraction to her now, there was still the fact that at one time he did have, and that Kana had had him as a lover for twenty years. She really wasn't fond of being faced with a former mistress of her mate's, was the bottom line, and there was some residual jealousy over it.
On top of that, Satori had decided to accompany them, so she would also have to deal with his ex-wife. Now, with Satori, he wasn't as bothered – for some reason, the inu female had decided that she liked Kagome, and was quite amenable to her. Sugimi reluctantly, again, though with much less reluctance, decided that she could come with them – she was a powerful inu female warrior, and every little bit against Naraku they could get was all to the better.
Plus, he knew that because Satori had decided she liked Kagome, and Kana hated her, she would go out of her way to watch Kagome's back, just out of spite towards Kana, without even considering the friend she was going to become to Kagome. Sugimi had been married to her for some time, and knew her well – she genuinely liked Kagome, and he was oddly grateful for that.
So, with an enlarged group of some of the most powerful youkai still in Japan, they all left the Western Palace, and headed north towards Edo, and the forest that had once housed the Tree of Ages.
True to Sugimi's deductions the night before, Kagome tired easily, and he had no problem with carrying her while she slept in his arms, his senses extended outward to make sure nothing dangerous was near them, but his eyes and mind trained on his beautiful little mate... and the naughty little dreams she was having while sleeping.
He sighed...
This business with Naraku couldn't be finished fast enough for him.
~oOo~
A/N: And now, back to the spider hunt.
Amber
Converting /tmp/phpbGyCIM to /dev/stdout
Before Sugimi could even articulate his own rage at being crossed once again by the bitch, Kagome was standing next to him, and Kana, seeing her, knew for certain in that moment – they were mates, and he was forever out of her reach.
Her rage knew no bounds – as the Lady of the South, she wasn't used to having anything she wanted forbidden to her. Both Sugimi and Kagome felt her temper spiral out of control as her powers rose to her command, and within an instant, Kagome had her reiki pulled from within to light the hall passage with a brilliant pink glow.
She allowed just enough of her reiki out to top Kana's power and intimidate – and it worked, Kana's power dwindling before the might of a priestess, even as she scowled in frustrated rage.
“Don't do it, Kana. It isn't worth your life. What do you really think you're gaining here? Even if he and I weren't mated now-” she blushed, “-he still wouldn't want you. Do you really think pissing him off is going to change that? I know you're smarter than that. Pull your power back, and leave, or this won't end so nicely, and then you'll have to face Sesshoumaru, and explain why his palace is burning down around his ears.”
Kana glared at her, then hissed, “This isn't over, bitch.”
Kagome was just about to get angry at the appellation when Sugimi stopped her with, “Don't, Kagome. Technically, you are a bitch now. My bitch.”
Startled, she looked up at him with a cherry blush, and blinked, then grinned. “You know, you're right! Now I don't have to take it as an insult!”
With that, Kana just gritted her teeth and turned on her heel; despite her anger, her body was tight with desire at seeing his well-remembered body half nude, and she stalked off down the hall, already plotting their demise, her anger fueled by frustrated passion.
Sugimi watched her for a moment, eyes narrowed – he knew her too well. “This isn't over, like she said – she will attempt to kill you, and thereby, me, at some point, Kagome.”
Yawning, she looked at Kana's disappearing back down the hall, and turned to go back to the bed. “I'll worry about that later, Sugimi – I'm too tired right now to think.”
Just then, the servant sent for their supper returned, and brought in a nicely laden tray for the new couple, bowing and congratulating them. Sugimi looked closely at him, and realized that he was one who had also served when he was the Western Lord. With a smile, he thanked the male, and then slid the door closed behind him as he turned to look at his once again naked little mate who was still yawning, but waiting for him in bed, with the tray settled across her knees.
Quickly, she had his food served and his sake poured, and then as soon as he began to eat, she did as well, hungrily scarfing everything in front of her, to her mate's amusement. “Hungry, my dear?” he chuckled.
“Well,” she waved her chopsticks around in the air in emphasis, “I haven't eaten since supper yesterday. All I had this morning with my mom before I came looking for you was some hot tea, so yeah, I'm hungry.”
“Well,” he sighed, “at least you have a good appetite, not like most human women, who seem to eat like birds so they don't gain any weight. I don't understand why human males seem to want their females so bony – I much prefer your healthy, though slender body, to one that reminds me of a skeleton.”
Kagome laughed, putting her hand over her mouth so she didn't spray her tea everywhere at the picture his words brought to mind, and shook her head at him. “D-don't do that! I almost c-choked on my tea,” she stuttered out after she managed to swallow.
He chuckled at her, then yawned himself, and finally, taking the empty tray and setting it aside, he scooted down in the bed as she did, and stripped off his hakama, then curled up around his sweet little mate – who was already beginning to doze off, and sighed, more content in that moment than he had ever been in his long life.
'I love you, mate,' he whispered into her mind, and she sent the thought back to him as she slipped into sleep, along with a huge surge of love.
With that, and a smile on his face, he, too, drifted off into sleep, and the room grew quiet, with the breathing of its occupants the only noise to be heard.
~oOo~
They left the rest of the palace in an uproar, however, and while they were getting a good sleep in, everyone else was left arguing and fighting amongst themselves over what, exactly, had happened.
Sango was happy – knowing what she knew about youkai, and how Sugimi had fallen hard over her friend, she didn't have a problem with them being mated at all.
Miroku was merely concerned that there would be trouble from Kana, and said so, repeatedly.
Sesshoumaru agreed with him. He was also rather disappointed that Kagome was out of his reach – not that he was in love with her or anything, but he was fascinated by her, found her attractive, was admittedly becoming fond of her, and enjoyed her knowledge. Other than that, he was simply annoyed at the uproar in his palace, and even more annoyed at Kana for her spoiled disregard for his rules in his domain.
Inuyasha, despite knowing that this was coming, was heartbroken, and it would take a while for him to bounce back from it. Funny enough, he blamed both himself, and Kikyou for having lost Kagome in the first place. It was the first thing he'd ever blamed Kikyou for.
Shippo, and Rin thought the whole thing was great, once they understood what had happened. Shippo especially – being youkai, even though young, he understood about mates, and what it meant to take one, rather than a convenient wife, as his own parents had been mate-bonded, and that was why his mother had died when her mate had, leaving him alone. He knew that Kagome would be taken care of for the rest of her now long, long life, and that was fine with him.
Yuuka was more pleased than she could ever say to see Sugimi happy at last, and glad, in some ways, that she had gotten the chance to see him mated, and meet the woman who was his other half. Surprisingly, miko or no, she was the perfect foil to her powerful mate, and Yuuka could see quite well the devotion between them. It eased her heart, and made it that much easier for her to look towards her own coming death so that she could finally be whole again, with her own beloved mate on the other side.
Shaking her head at the chattering, yelling, loud group still all upset at the two who had finally returned, she finally put her foot down and brought all yapping to a halt by the simple expedient of having the vining ivy climbing the walls of the palace on this side, suddenly leave their homes on the walls, and wrap themselves around most of the group. She wasn't, however, dumb enough to do that to Sesshoumaru.
Once silence had fallen, she stepped forward, and pointing out each person as she went, she took care of their concerns/complaints.
“Sango-san,” she bowed towards the taijiya, and Sango, startled, bowed politely back, slightly hampered by her ivy bindings. “I am pleased that you are happy for them – your knowledge of our ways is a good thing in this instance – they need all the support they can get.”
Sango nodded, knowing the woman was correct – she need look no further than Kana for proof of that statement. And she would, too – stand behind her friend and the daiyoukai she loved.
Next, Miroku.
“Miroku-sama, I agree with you that Kana is going to be a problem. A very big, witchy one. We all need to keep our eyes on her as we go along.” Miroku nodded, glad that she had heeded his words, and addressed them aloud to everyone.
“Sesshoumaru-sama, you know she is not your one, and though you enjoy her company, and have a certain affection towards her, she is a friend for you, and nothing more. You will eventually find your own mate.”
Then she looked at Inuyasha with sympathy in her gaze, and said, “Remember what we talked about yesterday, Inuyasha. And just think about this; if you had mated Kagome, it would have been an incomplete mating, and when she inevitably met your father, you all three would have suffered horrendously. Even more so when you met your own mate, so be thankful that the kami protected you all from that horrible fate.”
She looked around for the children, but they had run off to play, and that left one person to deal with... Satori.
Kana eyed her as she stood on the steps of the shiro, head held high, and wondered what Sugimi's ex-wife would choose to do; cause more problems, or leave the couple alone?
With a decided smirk, she looked Yuuka over for a moment, and then shrugged. “I'll leave them alone – I want to see her put Kana in her place a few more times, since I hate that particular wench more than any human out there.”
Yuuka sighed with relief – having Satori and Kana against her could have been very stressful, and she was glad Satori hated Kana so much – it had helped Kagome's case a great deal.
As she loosened her vines away from the people on the covered porch all began to disperse, and head into the evening meal. Yuuka looked up into the heavens. “I will be so glad when my sojourn here is over, and I can join you, Daiki – this has become too much without you to help me deal with it.”
A small sakura blossom gently glided down to her hands, and with a faint look of confusion, she looked around; the only sakura trees here in the Western Palace were on the other side of the shiro, and the wind wasn't blowing from that direction.
And then she caught a faint scent, but one she would never forget, and that's when she knew...
Daiki was still there, and he was waiting for her.
She smiled as she thought of her own death.
~oOo~
With an angered narrow-eyed gaze, Kikyou stared up at the northern hills and and scowled even harder – she had finally figured out that Inuyasha had lied to her about the direction they had taken.
Because she had had to stay so far back, ostensibly because of Sesshoumaru, she hadn't realized for some time that the group of travelers was not anywhere in the northern provinces, and when Naraku had come looking for more information, he'd punished her for her lack of knowledge of the whereabouts of Inuyasha and his group. Severely.
He was also still watching her closely to make sure she wasn't deliberately lying to him.
The spider was getting nervous; Sesshoumaru joining up with his half-brother's group was something he had never considered – the two seemingly hated each other so much that he wondered what extraordinary circumstance had pushed them to set aside their own hostilities to join against him.
And ever since they had joined up, everything had started going wrong for him.
Kikyou never knew where they were, Kanna's mirror had been destroyed by something extremely powerful, he couldn't get the first clue of what had been done, or who had done it, and his saimyousho had started disappearing before they could ever get back to him with any information.
The bottom line was that current events were a complete blank to him, and he didn't like stumbling blindly about. That was how you got killed.
On top of that, the only information he'd gotten out of Kikyou had greatly concerned him – the male that had confronted her that day in Inuyasha's forest. She had no idea who it was, as she'd never seen him, but she could tell him that it was someone she'd never heard before, and that someone seemed mighty attached to Kagome.
The spider scowled; that little bitch was the biggest thorn in his side, and he desperately wanted her dead. Unfortunately, she seemed to have kami's own luck, because no matter how badly he'd beaten the tachi in the past, she'd always escaped with her life.
Perhaps he should concentrate all his efforts on killing her...
Of course, he had to find them first.
Plus, there was that wench, Kana, and the shard he had given her... he hadn't gotten anything out of her for his efforts, though if she hadn't come across the group, it wasn't like she could do anything, and once again, he came back to the not knowing where they were thing.
Gritting his teeth in frustration, he considered different schemes that could be launched against Kagome, and the only thing he could come up with, was one involving Kikyou – and Inuyasha.
He knew Inuyasha's weakness to Kikyou, and it was an easy bet that if he could get Kikyou to go along with the plan, he could force the hanyou into a 'choose to save one or the other' scenario. Knowing how Kagome felt about Inuyasha, she would see his choice of saving Kikyou as a betrayal, and would be heartbroken, and thus, easy to kill. Such a betrayal would also turn the monk and slayer against Inuyasha, because they were totally devoted to Kagome.
In one little instant, he could completely destroy the tachi, leaving everyone at odds with each other, and no threat to him.
There was, however, a wild card - Sesshoumaru. There was no telling what he would do, but it was fairly certain that he would protect Kagome, as she was the one that could track the shards, and he knew for a fact that the daiyoukai had no use for Kikyou whatsoever.
But, if he struck correctly, he could keep Sesshoumaru's attention on protecting his little girl child, and there was a good chance then that his scheme would work.
Perhaps he should think about tracking Kikyou back down, and convincing her to join in his latest plan... he knew it would not be difficult to do so, as she desperately wanted rid of Kagome herself – she couldn't stand the competition.
With a slight smirk, he thought about just how angry she was at being tricked by Inuyasha. He was also pretty positive she blamed Kagome for what was going on...
That dawning hatred for the girl who had taken over her life was all he needed to gain a foothold into the destruction of his most bitter enemies.
~oOo~
Dawn the next morning found Sugimi, Kagome, and the rest of the group all up and ready to go, having a last minute planning session in the library, while eating one last warm meal before leaving for the forest of Illusions, as they had nicknamed it after hearing Hojo call it that.
The young human male was devastated to learn that Kagome was mated to the powerful daiyoukai, but accepted it with good grace, and even congratulated the pair, at which Kagome gave the poor boy a hug and a kiss on the cheek – Sugimi merely thanked the young man, not even bothering to become jealous – there was absolutely no need, and he didn't mind that she had embraced the boy to comfort him.
She was his mate, he lived in her as much as she did in him, and knew exactly how she viewed Hojo and every other person around her. He had no competition out there, and he knew it, so jealousy was a moot point and a waste of time.
Sugimi formally introduced Yuuka to the group, and explained what she was, and why she would be joining them – everyone was pleased to meet the attractive, pleasant woman, all accept Kana, of course.
The daiyoukai had discussed the Southern Lady's continued participation in the group with Kagome, Sugimi all for sending her right back to her home, but Kagome talked him around – she felt it would be much easier to contain her malice and keep her from doing too much damage when she was surrounded by people loyal to he and Kagome. They would have an entire group of people watching her every action, making it much easier to contain her than if she was at home, where she had an entire province full of people that would do her bidding.
Reluctantly, he agreed, knowing she had a good point, but not wanting the nasty woman anywhere around himself or his mate.
Kagome really didn't, either – despite the fact that she knew how he felt about the woman, and that he had no attraction to her now, there was still the fact that at one time he did have, and that Kana had had him as a lover for twenty years. She really wasn't fond of being faced with a former mistress of her mate's, was the bottom line, and there was some residual jealousy over it.
On top of that, Satori had decided to accompany them, so she would also have to deal with his ex-wife. Now, with Satori, he wasn't as bothered – for some reason, the inu female had decided that she liked Kagome, and was quite amenable to her. Sugimi reluctantly, again, though with much less reluctance, decided that she could come with them – she was a powerful inu female warrior, and every little bit against Naraku they could get was all to the better.
Plus, he knew that because Satori had decided she liked Kagome, and Kana hated her, she would go out of her way to watch Kagome's back, just out of spite towards Kana, without even considering the friend she was going to become to Kagome. Sugimi had been married to her for some time, and knew her well – she genuinely liked Kagome, and he was oddly grateful for that.
So, with an enlarged group of some of the most powerful youkai still in Japan, they all left the Western Palace, and headed north towards Edo, and the forest that had once housed the Tree of Ages.
True to Sugimi's deductions the night before, Kagome tired easily, and he had no problem with carrying her while she slept in his arms, his senses extended outward to make sure nothing dangerous was near them, but his eyes and mind trained on his beautiful little mate... and the naughty little dreams she was having while sleeping.
He sighed...
This business with Naraku couldn't be finished fast enough for him.
~oOo~
A/N: And now, back to the spider hunt.
Amber
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