Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Strength	By : inufan625 Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > InuYasha/Kagome Views: 9998 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha and will make no money from this work of fiction. This will apply to all chapters contained within.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Kagome sat on the sofa, her leg propped up on a pillow that InuYasha had placed there for her so that she could rest her ankle. She was so relieved to finally be done with high school. In the back of her mind a little voice had already started to nag her about college now that she knew she was going to be staying in the present, but she refused to listen to it. Once the jewel was dealt with then she would start worrying about that.
She flipped through the channels on the television, but wasn't having any luck finding anything interesting to watch. She wondered how much longer it was going to take for InuYasha to finish helping her grandfather. In the two days since he had returned from saying goodbye to their friends, they hadn't had time to really talk to one another about everything that had happened.
A knock at the door startled her out of her thoughts. As she rose her mother entered the room from the kitchen and motioned for her to sit back down. Kagome was more than willing to give her aching leg a break but before she could sit back down she began to feel a familiar tingling sensation running across her skin.
"Mama, wait," she said quietly. "I think I should answer the door."
Her mother studied her face for a moment. Kagome could tell that it went against everything inside her to let her child step between her and possible danger, but also that she knew deep down that it was the way it had to be. Kagome limped towards the door with her mother close behind and reminded herself that it was probably just her being paranoid. Surely InuYasha would have sensed it and come running had it really been a dangerous youkai at her door.
Kagome took a deep breath to prepare herself for whatever might be on the other side of the door and then opened it.
Standing before her was a man who looked to be only a few years older than her with red hair that was tied back in a leather thong and green eyes that were so familiar to her that it sent a chill down her spine. Seconds turned into a full minute as the man stared at her. When she could stand it no longer she finally said, "Can I help you?"
The man blinked. "Oh, sorry. Yeah, um, this is for you."
Kagome looked at the large envelope he was holding out to her and was surprised to see her name on it. She didn't sense anything dangerous about it so she took it from him and waited for him to turn away so that she could shut the door. Again time passed and the man gave no indication of plans to do anything but stare at her, and honestly it was giving her the creeps. "Was there something else?"
Kagome almost felt bad as his expression turned sad.
"I had hoped... but no, I guess there isn't," he replied. "Goodbye."
This time he turned around and Kagome watched him walk away. She closed the door and then turned to her mother. "Well, that was weird."
Asami nodded her agreement.
"Oi, what was weird?" InuYasha asked as he came to an abrupt stop just inside the room.
"Just some guy at the door," Kagome replied. "I thought it might have been a youkai, but I guess not. Though there was something familiar about it."
InuYasha frowned. "You sure, ‘cause I thought I smelled... Hey, what‘s that in your hand?"
Kagome wondered what he had been about to say but turned her attention to the envelope at his prompting. "He was delivering it. It has my name on it. I guess I should open it."
She carefully slipped her finger under the seal and pulled the stuck edges apart. Inside was a single folded sheet of paper and a business card. Her eyes grew wide as she read the letter and a sinking feeling developed in the pit of her stomach.
"InuYasha, what were you going to say when you came in?" she asked.
Something in her tone made him forget his curiosity about the letter temporarily. "Just that I thought I smelt that runt Shippou nearby, but that ain't very likely."
Her lip trembled as her eyes scanned the paper in her hand once more, and her tears fell. "No wonder he looked so sad when he left. He probably thinks I forgot about him."
InuYasha moved across the room and put a hand on Kagome's shoulder. "What is it? What‘s wrong?"
"This letter - it's from your brother," she said quietly. "He wants to meet with us. He says he has something we want. And that man at the door wasn't a man, it was Shippou - I am sure of it. I should have recognized him and now..."
"Oi, don't cry. Now that we know he's around we can find him," InuYasha told her. "He won't hold it against you for not recognizing him. He was just a kid last time you saw him. It ain't your fault. Besides, if he really wanted you to know who he was he should of said something."
"I am sure he's right, dear," Asami offered. "Maybe he had his reasons for not saying anything just yet, but that probably didn't stop him from hoping that you might know who he was. Now I really should go finish getting dinner ready."
Once Asami was gone InuYasha wrapped his arms around Kagome. "We'll find him. I promise."
"What about the letter?" Kagome asked. "Whatever your brother has might be important, and we can ask him about all of the youkai in this time and why they would call you The Dog Prince. I know you two don't get along but it might be our only chance, and he'll also be able to tell us where Shippou is since he's the one who sent him to us with this."
InuYasha sighed. "I don't like the thought of having to go see that bastard, but you're right. We really don't have much of a choice."

~ * ~
Kagome slipped her hand into InuYasha's as they made their way up the short walkway to the door of the grand house before them. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze as if to say that everything was going to be all right and she was grateful for it. While she didn't suspect that Sesshomaru had asked them to meet him just to do them harm, it wasn't as though she could just forget all that had happened in the past.
The door was opened not by Sesshomaru, but by a tiny old man who seemed somehow familiar.
"Keh, guess I shouldn't be surprised that it's you, since you‘ve been following my brother around for as long as I can remember," InuYasha said with a snort.
"That is that really Jaken?" Kagome asked. "But he looks so different."
"Kitsune magic really is a marvelous thing Kagome-sama," Jaken replied. "It has given many youkai who would not otherwise be able to live amongst humans the chance at a normal life. Now, InuYasha-sama, if you and Kagome- sama would follow me I will take you to my most esteemed Lord Sesshomaru the Youkai no Taisho."
Kagome looked to InuYasha in confusion at both the little imp's attitude and address of both them and his brother. Unfortunately InuYasha didn't have any fucking idea what was going on and was only able to shrug and shake his head as they followed the youkai servant down the hall.
InuYasha released Kagome's hand as Jaken opened a door and bowed, his arm extended to let them know they should enter. He glanced at her and she nodded to let him know she was ready for whatever it was that was coming. They entered the room together to find Sesshomaru sitting behind a large desk. His youki was much stronger then she remembered and without thinking Kagome took a step back and positioned herself just behind InuYasha. For his part he glanced back at her and she got the distinct impression that her actions had pleased him on some level.
"I assure you, you have nothing to fear from me," Sesshomaru said. "The times have changed and so have I. Please, sit."
"This had better not be some sort of trick," InuYasha said seriously. "Kagome's already been attacked several times here, and I'm not in the fucking mood for games."
Sesshomaru frowned. "I had not anticipated word to have traveled so quickly. This is unfortunate. It seems our enemies are more well connected than I had hoped."
"InuYasha, I think it's okay. Maybe we should just sit down and see what he has to say," Kagome said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
InuYasha sighed but sat down beside Kagome on the sofa that was across from the desk. There were two chairs positioned at either end, but he didn't want to be further from Kagome than he had to be, just in case. "All right then, tell us why we're here already."
"First things first," Sesshomaru said as he drew something out of his shirt. He pulled the chain from his neck and held it out across the desk. "I believe you have been searching for this."
Kagome grabbed her hanyou's sleeve. "InuYasha! It's final the shard!"
InuYasha gave her a wide eyed glance and reached out to take the item being offered to him by his brother. He then handed it to Kagome and watched as she lifted her own necklace from behind her shirt and merged the two together. For a moment the shikon no tama flashed brightly and then lay dormant once again.
"Now perhaps you will believe me when I say I have no desire to harm either one of you," Sesshomaru offered.
"Sesshomaru, would it be okay if we asked you some questions?" Kagome asked. When the youkai nodded, she continued, "Well the other night some youkai came to the shrine after the jewel, but that wasn't all they were after. They wanted InuYasha too. They called him The Dog Prince."
Again Sesshomaru frowned only this time even more deeply than before. "These youkai -what became of them?"
InuYasha smirked. "They messed with the wrong fucking miko is what became of them."
Kagome blushed at the obvious pride in InuYasha's tone and tried to move the focus from herself back to the youkai. "Do you know why they called him that or why they said the last great miko disappeared five hundred years ago?"
Sesshomaru looked pensive for a moment as if deciding where to begin, and then he spoke, "It was well before you passed through the well that the spiritual powers of humans began to wane. I do not know if it began when Midoriko sealed her soul into that jewel, but it was about that time that true spiritual humans were born less often and with less power. In truth the power of youkai began to wane as well, and there were very few daiyoukai remaining even so long ago as when you first journeyed to the past.
"Now it is true that on occasion a human would be born with great spiritual power. The monk whom you traveled with was one as was my brother's other miko."
Kagome stiffened at the mention of Kikyou as InuYasha's other miko. In response InuYasha took her hand. "You might want to rephrase that. It ain't like they were a matching set or anything. They aren't interchangeable. Kikyou was Kikyou and Kagome is Kagome and ain't neither one of them my other miko."
Sesshomaru arched an eyebrow but didn't argue. "Of course. I did not mean to imply such. I simply chose my words poorly. Shall I continue?" With out waiting for a response Sesshomaru began again, "With Naraku defeated and only a single shard from the jewel remaining in the past, there was even less need for human to have spiritual powers.
"That's not to say humans were never born with spiritual powers, but it was rare and their power never again grew to match that of even the elderly miko who protected that village you called home. The day that you and Kagome left the Feudal Era, while not known, exactly marked the end of the time when spiritual humans had the power to hunt and kill all but the weakest of youkai. That is why they were so confident that you could not harm them. For the last 500 years there has been no one who could.
"It is also why they called InuYasha The Dog Prince. Only the oldest daiyoukai have anything close to the power that we once knew. Even as a hanyou I would think none of this new breed up to the challenge of facing InuYasha. It is well known that I have a younger brother and that he was lost to time when he disappeared with the last great miko. To capture him would be a great way for my enemies to try and force me to give up my position as the leader of all youkai."
"Leader of all youkai," InuYasha snorted. "How'd you manage that? It's probably a self proclaimed title, ain't it?
Sesshomaru didn't rise to the insult. "In a manner of speaking. With no humans to control the youkai population something had to be done. While many would not have minded a world filled with youkai, I could not permit the extinction of an entire species."
"Especially not when you had grown so fond of one of them?" Kagome asked with a smile.
"Perhaps," Sesshomaru replied. "Something had to be done, and as the eldest son of the greatest youkai ever to live I laid down the laws by which we still survive today. Those who did not wish to follow me were free to challenge me. It did not take as long as you might have thought before there were no challengers left."
"Maybe that's why there are so many youkai here when I never really saw any before?" Kagome posed. Then her brow furrowed. "Though if I wasn't meant to be in the past I don't know how my leaving changed anything."
InuYasha looked to his brother. "You got any ideas on that? I never so much as scented a youkai here other than that noh mask before Kagome got stuck on this side of the well."
I can only theorize since I have lived through the years and not traveled around them like you both," Sesshomaru began. "My best guess would be that it is you, InuYasha, who have changed what will be. No doubt many youkai would have sought you out to challenge you after your defeat of Naraku. In fact I know of several who searched for you for many years after your disappearance, wanting to defeat the hanyou who had destroyed Naraku so that they could claim to be the strongest of all youkai."
"Keh, but it wasn't even me who did it," InuYasha admitted quietly. "It was Kikyou."
"Be that as it may, there were many who refused to believe a human had been able to kill even a part youkai who was in possession of the sacred jewel," Sesshomaru explained.
Kagome who had been quietly considering Sesshomaru words finally spoke, "So you are saying that by being here with me InuYasha changed the future?"
"It would appear so," Sesshomaru replied and though his tone held no judgment of any kind, Kagome couldn't help but to hear it anyway.
It was her fault that the world was different. InuYasha clearly belonged in the past and it was her selfish desire to be with him that changed everything. Maybe it didn't matter that they loved each other. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Surely after everything they now knew InuYasha would want to return to the past. He was so honorable that she knew he would want to put the good of the world above anything he might want for himself, but she also knew that he wouldn't leave her if she didn't tell him it was okay to go. It was beginning to seem like no matter how much of herself she was willing to give it would never be enough.
Kagome bit her lip to hold back her tears. She wouldn't cry and make InuYasha feel guilty. When he left she wanted him to be able to believe that she was going to be okay without him, and more importantly, she wanted what little time together they had left to be happy.
InuYasha put his hand on her shoulder. "Kagome?"
She closed her eyes briefly and pushed down all of her emotions, every bit of sadness and pain, and locked it away deep in her heart. She would have time to feel it later when he was gone and couldn't see her crying. It wasn't as hard to do as she had expected. A mirthless laugh would have escaped her had she not held back. Finally all of the times she had hidden her feelings after seeing InuYasha with Kikyou had come in handy.
She looked up at him and smiled. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking. I'm okay."
InuYasha frowned and looked at her for a moment as if trying to figure out if she was lying. "You sure?"
She nodded and looked back to Sesshomaru. "I know I've already asked you a lot but I have one more thing to ask you. It was Shippou you sent to my house wasn't it? I didn't recognize him and I really want to see him again."
"Actually it was he who insisted that delivering the letter was his to do," Sesshomaru told her. "It was foolish of him to expect you to recognize him when you last saw him as a child and even more foolish of him to allow himself to be upset by it instead of just telling you who he was."
"Maybe, but I can't blame him for it and I really would like to see him again," Kagome said. "I don't want him to think that I'd forgotten him."
"I will tell him you said as much," Sesshomaru agreed. "If there is nothing else, you are welcome to stay for dinner."
Kagome looked to InuYasha who shrugged as if he didn't care one way or the other. "Um, it's very nice of you to offer, but I think we should head home. My mother will be expecting us."
Sesshomaru nodded his acceptance. "Very well then. A car is waiting outside to take you back to the shrine. You may call on me should you need assistance, or should you have any more questions."
- 6
- 7
- 8
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