#anyway inuyasha's a magical girl we all knew this right

[fuedalreesespieces]

one of their downtimes in the present after school, kagome braids inuyasha's hair (twins, french, dutch, etc.) while they watch magical girl anime. inuyasha is surprisingly into it (the anime and having his hair played with)

oh, you are so right about this.

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"So he's the other guy?"

Kagome's fingers raked through his hair, parting it in two. He had no idea what she was doing, but it felt nice. So nice, in fact, that his attention was starting to wane from the television screen in front of him, if that was possible.

"Sort-of," Kagome amended, bringing a comb to the right side of his hair. Silver locks spilled down his shoulders, brushing against the enormous bowl of potato chips they shared. "He's kinda like a vessel for him, but he doesn't know it."

"Geez," Inuyasha grumbled. "All that power and he doesn't even know it exists."

Kagome let out an airy laugh. On screen, the boy called Yukito transformed into Yue. The bright colors fascinated him just as much as the feeling of Kagome's hands carding through his hair. He didn't quite get the concept of animation until she made him an example and even then, that simple jumping ball she'd created was leagues away from...whatever this was.

How did this even get on the screen, anyway? He'd suspected there was someone trapped in the back, but the box was much too tiny for even a kit like Shippo, and it was all clogged up with tangled wires. She'd explained the broadcasting system to him, but he still didn't understand how waves could translate to pictures. Eventually he'd given up on working out the concept, and his confusion never kept him from settling under her gentle hands and letting the story unfold in front of them.

She'd called it anime, a category for the style of art and animation used in the show they were watching, and Inuyasha had to admit it was wildly entertaining. Convoluted plots be damned, the fights were terribly engaging. Sota had told him that the sort of shows Kagome dragged him into were called magical girl anime, and which thereafter prompted a giggle from the younger boy. Inuyasha didn't quite get the joke, if there was one to be had. The way he saw it, the magical girls were just like the metal golems ("Mechs," Sota had corrected him) in the things Sota liked to watch - albeit better dressed.

On screen, Yue spoke, voice eerily cold compared to his counterpart. A chill ran down Inuyasha's spine. "He looks like Sesshomaru," he muttered.

Kagome finished one his braids and peered over his ears, her chin digging into his shoulder as she leaned in to see what she'd missed. "You know...I haven't really thought about it, but he sort of does. Minus the angel wings, of course." At Inuyasha's bark of laughter, she inched closer and smirked. "Think he'd make a good magical girl?"

An image of Sesshomaru wearing a skirt seemed to enter their minds at the same time, and upon making eye contact, they both collapsed in a fit of laughter. "Evil," he said between breaths, "absolutely fuckin' evil, what you just said."

"I was merely asking a question," she said innocently, her grin wicked. "But now that I think about it, I think you'd fit in better than him."

"Me?" he said incredulously.

"Why not? You've got a weapon-"

"A massive sword, not a magic wand-"

"-transformations-"

"One of 'em is useless and the other kills people-"

"You are not useless," she said immediately. "You're wonderful just as you are."

He was thankful the room was dark. "Kagome-"

"All you really need," she said, "is a change of clothes. Have you ever even been out of the Fire Rat?"

He scoffed. "Why should I? It's my armor. Why, you suggestin' I wear your clothes?" His attention returned to the television, where Yue was drawing an arrow back, but Kagome's ridiculous smile quickly emerged in his vision. She'd finished his hair and had come to sit beside him, fiddling with one of the two braids she'd done.

"Well...I do have an old school uniform-"

"No."

"Oh, come on, Inuyasha! Please?"

"I'm not wearing one of your skirts!" he shouted, face as bright as a plucked tomato.

"But I just finished your hair!"

"And what the hell does that have to do with it?"

"You would look good, I promise!" she assured. "Nobody's around."

"Your entire family is in the house, Kagome."

"And I'm sure they would all support your decision to finally be the magical girl you were born to be."

He rolled his eyes and twisted his head so she couldn't tempt him with that smile of hers. "You're crazy."

She slipped into his view and batted her eyelashes. "For me?"

"Woman, if you don't-"

"Please, Inuyasha?"

He told himself not to look. Her voice alone couldn't tempt him. He thought of happy things in his mind, like ramen, or cooked steak, but the image of her sad, droopy eyes kept tainting the images, and when he eventually cracked one eye open, she was still kneeling in front of him, hands clasped and wide, grey eyes lit up like silver by the artificial light of the television. The decision to keep staring at her, like a stubborn fool, damned him. She had him wrapped around her finger the second he chose not to close his eyes - or perhaps he'd been doomed to agree from the start.

Either way, all paths lead to him wearing the skirt.

"Oh my god," Kagome whispered. "Oh my god."

"Shut up," he snapped. The waistline was too tight, but he'd somehow managed it. The outfit he wore was simply a spare uniform she had stashed away in case hers was ripped up in the feudal realm, but she insisted that plenty magical girls wore similar clothing (did the schools purposefully let their girls dress up as magical girls?) At her request, he'd worn a pair of elbow length gloves, boots, and "Happy?"

"Oh, Inuyasha," she sighed, and his face turned another shade of red. "You have no idea."

[inuyashaha]

Yashahime Episode 15

I think so many of my feelings and observations have been stated by others at this point, but here go my rambling thoughts anyway.

First the negative:  It was an oddly structured episode.  The introduction threw us straight into the past, very, very briefly framed by Riku as the narrator.  Did Riku break the fourth wall or were we to assume a listener we did not see?  I’m still not sure.  So much information was thrown at the audience that it did not feel like there was enough times to savor the emotions of the moments ...  very very important moments that showed us Inuyasha and Kagome’s home and married dynamic, pregnant Kagome, RIN HAVING HER BABIES with Kaede, Sango and Kagome being there (I LOVED that), Sesshomaru taking his babies...I’m willing to wait and assume this rushed narrative is on purpose, but it was a little jarring.

Now the good:

Rin is the mommy!  I knew that.  I was convinced on August 1st during the livestream, but it was a sweet (if all too brief) moment.  Mamiko Noto’s voice as Rin was so perfect.  It was sweet, but it was subdued.  It was the voice of a someone who had just birthed twins and knows something awful is about to go down.  To hear her name the babies was a beautiful moment, and how sweet were baby Towa and Setsuna.  Towa looked a little grumpy/sleepy, but baby Setsuna was already smiling :).  I do think they will show that Setsuna, deep down, is a smiling sweet girl like her mother and that circumstances made her like she is.  It also makes me think that we have only seen one side of Towa -- we haven’t really seen what she has inherited from Sesshomaru -- yet.

I loved that all of Rin’s friends surrounded her and helped her have her babies.  The twins hurrying to get Kaede, Sango going for Kagome...it was a community event!  But seriously, to know that if only for a short while, Rin got to be surrounded by love and peace with her babies by her side makes the bitterness of Sesshomaru taking the babies so quickly afterwards a little easier to bear.  Just a little.  Sango the experienced mom.  Kaede the midwife.  Rin the new mom.  Kagome the expectant mom.  Imagine the conversations and bonding.  Their kids should have grown up together :(. 

And I am going to speculate, until the show proves me wrong, that Rin probably had her own hut and continued to live in the village after she married Sesshomaru, or at least after she got pregnant.  The fact that the twins came to get Kaede at night makes me think that she was not in Kaede’s hut.  Wouldn’t Kaede be at her own place at night? 

Like Inuyasha and Kagome, I think Rin and Sesshomaru had their own place:

This looks different from Kaede’s hut.  I don’t remember the little pathway on the left, but it’s impossible to tell if they are next to the gate here.  Again, I’m choosing to believe they had their own place.

So, this makes me consider how much Sesshomaru really did settle down for Rin.  He gave up his titles.  He did not take her to a castle in the air.  He let her stay among her friends and start a family WITH HIM but still within the village.  He gave her the best of both worlds.  He MARRIED her.  How many times was she called his wife or bride?  She’s no concubine or human piece on the side.  He MARRIED her.  Since he had not seen his mother in a while, I’m assuming he married her in her village, letting everyone know she wasn’t just some poor village girl taken advantage of by the powerful yokai. And it clearly wasn’t just a human marriage.  All the big bad demons called Rin Sesshomaru’s wife. What honor, respect and love he showed to her, a mere human peasant (though of course we all know she is so much more than that, especially to Sesshomaru).

Was he like many lords and installed her in her own home, visiting and staying with her when he did not have business to attend to?  Or did he tell Inuyasha that he better get used to having another demon hanging out in his forest by the village?  Like...for all intents and purpose, Sesshomaru may have been living in the same village as Inuyasha, both intending to raise their families together.  I love that.  Please Yashahime, don’t dissuade me of this.

Poor Sesshomaru...sigh...I know it doesn’t look great for him right now...but that will change.  The story is not going to make him the villain.  It’s just not.  But yes, poor Sesshomaru.  He got to be happy about his babies being born for all of about two seconds before Zero interrupted him.  Look at his little smile while he listens to his daughters’ first cries:

He had his worried face on, and then he smiled.  He’s a dad in the waiting room.  And the TONE of Jaken’s voice when he declared that they had been born.  The WARMTH, the LOVE.  Grandpa Jaken I love you so much.

This bitch, though, I don’t love at all:

Does she have some kind of magic yokai ultrasound that lets her know Sesshomaru had twin daughters and predicted Kagome would have a daughter?  I look forward to seeing how this all unravels, but the fact that she showed up IMMEDIATELY after the girls were born is frightening, and maybe that was why Sesshomaru was at the outskirts of the village instead of closer by?  Clearly, they were expecting some kind of attack, but dang...that happened fast.

Who is this lady anyway?  I’ve seen it speculated that it may be Riku’s mother...and yes?  I could see that.  Did she have a hanyou she was not allowed to keep,  poor Riku tossed overboard, and now she seeks revenge? Or was she rejected by Toga? Those tears of hers.  Who was she crying for?

As many others noticed, this was a little odd:

What about Sesshomaru’s mother?  He hasn’t seen her in years (such a bad son), and when they go to her castle, she’s missing.  Was she just off doing flying dog stuff in the sky?  Was she shopping for expensive jewelry and designer silks?  I’m assuming she was not at Sesshomaru’s wedding.  Or did Zero do something to her and Sesshomaru just wasn’t aware?  I’m dying to see more of Sesshomaru’s mom.  I want her to meet the twins and just throw out her arms all, “Come to Grandma!  Let me buy you things and tell you stories about your dad.”  But that remains to be seen.

Speaking of grandparents, can I say yet again that I love the honorary grandparents Kaede and Jaken, both trying to protect Rin in their own way.  Kaede doesn’t hold back and calls Sesshomaru a fool (imagine what she was like when Sesshomaru was truly courting Rin) while Jaken comforts Rin when her babies are taken away.  Again, the voice acting by Jaken’s VA is EVERYTHING in this episode.  The LOVE he conveys.  He’s perfect.  I love him.  I do.

And Rin knew the plan. She knew what was going to happen, but poor thing...I wish it could have been different for her.  Look how much she loves and trusts Sesshomaru.  That expression clearly says “Look what I made! Look what WE made!”  I wish we could have seen them react to the babies together. 

Also, look at how Sango is about THISCLOSE to putting on her slayer clothes and kicking Sesshomaru’s ass when he scooped up those babies and turned away:

The rest of the episode was such a jumble of events.  Sesshomaru AND Jaken were with Inuyasha and Kagome when the comet arrived, which was after the twins’ birth but before Moroha’s.  Even if they are hanyo, I don’t think Jaken and Sesshomaru would have left newborn babies alone.  Rin was with them.  Jaken even said he was bringing Rin to them (I assume after she recovered from birthing twins).  Further supporting this would be the dream gazing spell business --  Like others have said, I’m pretty sure Rin sacrificed herself to keep her remaining daughter safe after Towa was pulled into the future.

Miscellaneous observations:

1. What the hell is going on with the comet? Every 500 years?  So, the Higurashis might be in for a surprise pretty soon?  Comet remnants are still in the sky though...

2. Why in the hell did Inuyasha bring his pregnant wife along for the comet destruction? Why exactly was she there?  Unless he was too worried about her safety to leave her behind?

3. Riku is one shady fellow.  HE found the compact?  How did he know where to look? I know, I know.  Don’t be hasty, but c’mon.  We don’t have that many episodes left.

4.  I like how they portrayed a pregnant Kagome.  I like this little side view where you can see she’s chunky, but it’s not an exaggerated thing:

5. Sesshomaru and Rin had babies before Inuyasha and Kagome! On one level, it is very sweet.  Of anyone, Rin and Sesshomaru are very aware of the fragility of life and how fleeting time is.  Look at the names of their daughters.  It makes sense that they wanted a family quickly.  On the other hand, I cannot shake the idea that the brothers did get competitive with each other.  I can imagine Inuyasha knocking up Kagome as quickly as possible after finding out that Rin was pregnant.  Then Sesshomaru has TWO daughters to Inuyasha’s one.  I am longing for some brotherly interactions.  Let Inuyasha call him a hypocrite at least once.  Let Sesshomaru gloat that he has TWO super awesome daughters. Let the daughters watch their ridiculous fathers fist fight while their mothers pour water on them and tell them to SIT.  Please.

6. Besides emphasizing the fact that Rin is Sesshomaru’s WIFE, the episode also emphasized the fact that Rin actually birthed the girls. Rin is in labor, it will be soon, you did well, Rin, Rin resting in bed with her daugthers, her voice weak and tired, the tub used to wash the babies in the background.  There was no magic switcheroo.  The twins were not found beneath a tree.  Sesshomaru did not sprout them from a forgotten limb. They came out of Rin’s body.  She’s the mom. She made them with her husband. End of.

6. Finally, this is the best part of the episode.

You sure did, Rin. 

Now where are A-Un and Shippo?

[miss-musings]

Here’s why Sessrin personally doesn’t bother me:

1. The Mythology

Granted, I’m not an expert in Japanese mythology/folklore, but I do know that there were beliefs that male dog demons could be tamed by human women who offered them food. At that point, the dog demons would become loyal to their women and protect them (and in some cases fall in love with them). (EDIT: link to a video about the folkloric roots of Inuyasha here.)

This is exactly what happened between Sesshomaru and Rin. He was hurt; she offered him food; and he revived her and protected her thereafter.

Now, I don’t know if dog demons in the Inuyasha universe are bound by this rule or if this is just an allusion to mythological beliefs. If the former, Sesshomaru either consciously or unconsciously has no choice in his loyalty to and care for Rin.

It might be like — and I hesitate to use this as an example — imprinting in The Twilight Saga. It might be that her offering him food forced his “center of gravity” to start shifting from himself and his ambitions to her and her well-being. Granted, I don’t think this is exactly like imprinting (and I’ll talk about that more in a bit), but it might be like it in that Sesshomaru had no choice in the matter as he was bound by the magic that governs his kind, so that when a girl offered him food, he became attached to her.

But even if it’s just an allusion to the mythology and Sesshomaru isn’t automatically bound to her by way of his demon nature — which the flashback to her smile before he revived her kinda hints at — her kindness still won him over to the point where he does something he’s never done before and shows compassion for a human.

So, it might be that Sesshomaru is “bound” to Rin in some form or fashion, whether by the magic that govern his demonic nature, or simply by virtue of her kindness softening his heart (much like Gohan did to Piccolo in Dragon Ball Z).

2. Undefined, Evolving Relationship

OK, so the reason I say it’s *like* imprinting but not it exactly is that you can see that the level to which Sesshomaru cares about Rin clearly evolves between when he first meets her and the end of The Final Act.

When she’s first abducted by Naraku, Sesshomaru hardly bats an eye. Maybe he’s upset, but if so, he doesn’t show it. Jaken even thinks that Sesshomaru could forsake her by not going to rescue her, and even Rin wonders whether Sesshomaru will come for her. However, he does, although his motives are clearly mixed. Maybe saving Rin was a secondary motive and he mostly wanted to destroy Naraku for insulting his pride, or maybe it was the other way around. We don’t know exactly, but Sesshomaru does confirm that he’s not there *only* to save Rin. In fact, he completely forgets about her until Naraku uses her safety as his ‘ace in the hole’ while he escapes. And, again, despite being told that Rin’s life is in danger, Sesshomaru only looks miffed and it takes him a second to decide to set off to save her. Even as Kohaku is about to cut her down, Sesshomaru just stands there.

Now, compare that to how Sesshomaru acts when Naraku abducts her right before the final battle in TFA. He’s clearly upset when he first hears about it and immediately flies off to save her. When he enters Naraku’s body, his first priority is to save Rin. And I always loved how, even once he saved her, it took him a while to finally pull out Bakusaiga and finish Naraku off. Personally, I would’ve done that the second she was safe, but oh well. It’s almost like he forgot he had a sword that could destroy everything in a single stroke. 😂

OK, so the point is that, even if Sesshomaru is automatically bound to Rin, it’s different than how the wolves in Twilight are bound to their imprintees. It wasn’t immediate, first of all, and he doesn’t act like someone whose entire ‘center of gravity’ has shifted even by the end of the series.

While he definitely cares about her well-being, he also doesn’t become overly affectionate with her either. He mostly treats her with a kind indifference, unless she’s in danger. She’s free to do whatever she wants, but he often leaves her and Jaken behind. I personally believe this is both because he doesn’t want them in the way *and* he wants to keep her out of danger.

We also know Sesshomaru hesitated in having Rin as a traveling companion in the first place.

Even if you don’t count the Forever With Lord Sesshomaru episode because it’s filler, Sesshomaru admits in TFA 9 that he should’ve left Rin in a human village for her own well-being. However she apparently wanted to travel with him, so he allowed her ... for whatever reason. (As I like to say, “Because, plot!” Sesshomaru needed character development and someone to get kidnapped to motivate him to do things.)

Even by the end of TFA, I’d argue that Sesshomaru has finally grown to the point where he’s able to let go of Rin and see that it’s best for her well-being if she *doesn’t* travel with him. Sure, he still visits her and brings her gifts, but he’s not so blindly attached to her to the point where he can’t let her go. (At least to live somewhere else; dying is a different story.)

OK... so that begs the question: who is Rin to Sesshomaru? How did he see her during the Inuyasha series? In what capacity did he care for her?

Going back to the imprinting deal, the wolf and imprintee are regarded as soulmates. Even if the wolf imprints on someone way younger than himself, he will always want to be in her life in whatever capacity is necessary and appropriate (brother, protector, best friend, etc.). Then when she’s old and mature enough, the two will have romantic feelings for each other.

We can already see that this is far different from how Sesshomaru treats Rin, at least initially. Again, he thought about leaving her in a human village after reviving her and eventually did leave her at the end of TFA. He recognizes that he doesn’t need to be in her life and shouldn’t be, either because it puts her in danger or she needs to be around other humans, but probably a bit of both.

So, is this just Sesshomaru waiting around until Rin is old enough to be a romantic interest for him, as is the case with the wolves in Twilight? I argue no, because again, he was never overly affectionate with Rin.

I think Sesshomaru sees her as someone who is under his protection in a very general way. When she’s in trouble, he will save her. If he can’t be there, he ensures Jaken and/or A-Un stays with her. While Jaken says that Sesshomaru treats her better despite Jaken being his loyal servant for decades, I think that’s because Rin — as a human and a child — requires protective attention that Jaken doesn’t need as an adult demon.

Otherwise, Rin seems to fend for herself. Sesshomaru doesn’t teach her, doesn’t provide for her (other than maybe finding that orange kimono for her off-screen, but that’s speculation), and generally doesn’t interact with her much other than protecting her.

He doesn’t seem like a father or a brother, and I don’t think *he* thinks himself in that way. At the very least, others in-universe don’t. Kagura labels Rin as Sesshomaru’s ward and Inuyasha calls her a companion. Even Jaken doesn’t give Sesshomaru and Rin’s dynamic a label in TFA 9, other than saying he treats her better than he treats Jaken (who has his own reasons for being jealous of any attention Rin would receive from Sesshomaru even if it’s because she’s a human child who needs protection in a way Jaken doesn’t).

So, anyway; what I’m trying to say is that Sesshomaru is attached to Rin in a way that’s unique and powerful, but also seemingly undefined in the Inuyasha series. He wants to keep her safe, and he definitely cares about her to the point where he risks himself to save her on multiple occasions and feels that her life was priceless compared to growing stronger by training with Tenseiga.

Now, did The Powers That Be definitely hint that Sesshomaru and Rin would end up together romantically one day (namely by pointing out similarities between her and Kagome and Izaiyoi)? Sure, but you can’t necessarily blame Sesshomaru for that.

Is a girl getting married and pregnant at 16/17, even if it was a different era, something I wish the Yashahime writers would’ve avoided? Yes.

Are people allowed to feel uncomfortable that a male demon knew and looked out for his future wife while she was still a child? Yes.

Do I understand why people are upset about Sessrin? Yes, but I personally am not.

[sage-nebula]

I’ve been thinking about what I would have liked a sequel to InuYasha to be like, since the official sequel has been such a disappointment (to say the least), so I figured I’d go ahead and post my thoughts. 

To start with, we’re keeping Moroha, and she would be the actual main character. She’s the daughter of the previous two main protagonists, her personality steals the show on the regular anyway, and the fact that she’s part demon while also having sacred priestess powers makes her far more interesting than simply doing half-demons 2.0. I’m not sorry.

So, the story. I imagine that hundreds and hundreds of years back, like well before Inuyasha was ever sealed to the Tree of Ages and all that drama with Kikyou and Naraku happened, there was a prophecy made by some kind of deity (or deity-like) figure. The prophecy was something like, when a demon had a child with a powerful priestess, that child would then end the warring period between demons and mortals—and would, in fact, put an end to demons altogether. In other words, the child of the demon and shrine maiden would lead to the modern era, where mortals still roam freely but demons are (typically) nowhere to be seen. Not many knew about this prophecy, but very powerful and high-ranking demons did (e.g. Kirinmaru, possibly Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru’s father), and because they didn’t want demons to disappear from the earth for very obvious reasons (even though the prophecy wasn’t clear on how that would happen), they made it a point to try to stop the birth of such a child from ever happening—or, if it did happen, they made it a point to kill said child as an infant before they could ever grow. 

Hundreds of years passed. For a time there was great concern over whether Kikyou would bear the child that would bring about the prophecy, given that she was a powerful priestess (the most powerful priestess) who had several half-demons interested in her. Fears waned a little when Inuyasha decided to become human like Kikyou, forsaking his demon half and therefore rendering the two of them unable to bring the prophecy to pass (and there was some argumentation over whether a half-demon could bring the prophecy to pass anyway, but the danger was too great to risk it in the minds of those who knew), but then all of that drama went down before he could, and Kikyou died before she could have a child with anyone, so it became a moot point.

Regardless, those hundreds of years passed, Kikyou was reborn as Kagome, Kagome and Inuyasha fell in love, and they ended up giving birth to a child, Moroha, who inherited both demonic powers from her father and sacred powers from her mother. And while it’s not as if someone was watching Inuyasha and Kagome on CCTV to stalk their every action, other parts of the prophecy (such as the full moon and sun both being present in the sky at the moment of the birth, which happened just as day broke, or stars falling the night of conception) lined up and made it clear that the prophecied birth had come to pass. Of course, neither Inuyasha nor Kagome knew of the prophecy, nor did anyone else in the village . . . but Kirinmaru, as mentioned before, did.

So Kirinmaru shows up some time after Moroha’s birth, when she’s still a baby, with the intent on killing her and probably her parents as well, for good measure, so they can’t have another one. He’s not alone; I’m unsure of whether Sesshoumaru would be with him or not in this version (because I feel Sesshoumaru would have complicated feelings on the issue; he doesn’t want demons to disappear but also he’s doubtful Inuyasha’s child could make that happen), but Kirinmaru would at least have his top four lackeys and possibly many other demons with him. Enough so that everyone in the village would be at significant risk. Of course Kagome and Inuyasha aren’t going down without a fight, but also a battleground is no place for a baby, so Kagome takes Moroha through the well (which we’ll say was working at this point in time) in order to have her family watch her. This serves two purposes: It gives Moroha a loving family to take care of her, with Kagome herself ensuring that happens, AND it allows us to show Kagome’s family after giving a frick about her potentially dying, which Yashahime failed to show with their non-reaction to her potentially having a child.

Of course, Kagome’s family doesn’t want her to return to the feudal era if there’s some huge battle going down, but Kagome promises that she will survive, and she will come back to get Moroha. She promises. So her family agrees to babysit Moroha, and Kagome returns to the feudal era . . . only to not come back. As a result, Moroha is raised by Souta and his family, and cherished by her grandma and great-grandpa, even though there is also an ever-present sorrow and grief because they believe Kagome must have died in the battle she spoke of. And Moroha does feel the love from her family, but also recognizes that they also see her dead mother whenever they look at her, so there’s that, too.

With that said, Kagome isn’t dead! She returns to the feudal era and things are indeed going badly (in a flashback we get plenty of “INUYASHAAAA” “KAGOMEEEEE” for old time’s sake), but I don’t want to kill either her or Inuyasha off. So instead, we’ll bring the Rainbow Pearls back into it. Like in the actual sequel, Inuyasha and Kagome end up sealed in one of the Rainbow Pearls. But the reason here is because Kirinmaru finds out that Kagome sent Moroha away to a place where he can no longer reach her, and he’s furious about it. But he also feels that, when she grows up, she will seek out her parents. So he figures, he’ll take her parents, seal them in a state where they can’t escape him, and then use them as bait. He’ll lure Moroha to him and kill her then. It’s a perfect plan. (And while I would want to seal Inuyasha and Kagome into the Tree of Ages since that’s their tree, at the same time, Kirinmaru can’t exactly take a whole ass tree with him. I mean, he could, but it’d kill it and probably end the sealing power. So.)

Years pass, Moroha grows. She can pretty much pass for a human girl aside from her fangs and her super senses / abilities, so she doesn’t feel like too much of an outcast in the human world. She's a little older than in Yashahime, maybe around 16, and as such was able to do at least a year or two of high school and has a few years experience in archery and kendo clubs as a result. But though she doesn’t feel like an outcast, Moroha has always been plagued by the feeling that there’s more to her story than she and her family know. She feels like there’s something missing, like the assumption that her mother died just isn’t right. This draws her back to the Bone-Eaters Well time and time again, and the final time (the one we see) Souta follows her there. They talk about Moroha’s feelings and her desire to know, and Souta tells her he think that she can make the trip—and that she should, if she can’t rest. He gives her Inuyasha’s robe of the fire rat (which I forgot to mention Moroha was swaddled in when Kagome took her through), as well as her bow and quiver from archery, and some other provisions. Then Moroha jumps through and returns to the feudal era.

So the main plot, or at least the one that Moroha is aware of at first, would be Moroha trying to figure out what happened to her parents, where they are, et cetera (and people like Miroku, Sango, and Shippou bursting out crying when they see that Inuyasha and Kagome’s daughter did survive and is all grown up and looks so much like her parents). Then in the background of that is the prophecy and whether Moroha actually will carry it out or not. My thought is that she would, but it’s not that she kills all demons, because that’s pretty grim. Rather, it’s that the Rainbow Pearls would ultimately be used to seal or suppress demonic powers, with the implication that demons or people with demonic powers are very much still actually in the modern era, but they’re just sleeping, and could come back at any time. And perhaps this would be done at the end of her life rather than at the end of the series, I don’t know. But basically it would be written to explain the discrepancy of why there were demons and magic in the feudal era, but no longer in the modern era. It would make Kagome going back to the feudal era, meeting Inuyasha and building a family with him, something that actually needed to happen for her era to exist as it did at all. (So, a stable time loop, sort of.)

As for Sesshoumaru having daughters, I honestly really don’t think it’s necessary, but if he did they should be side characters (as in they can be part of the main group, but their story shouldn’t be the primary focus), and Kagura should be their mother. Since Kagura died, if we do still want them to be half-demons, then perhaps it could be that Sesshoumaru traveled to the modern era himself somehow to look for Moroha after Kagome sent her there (I don’t think the well would work for him, but this is a show about magic, he could find a way). He didn’t find Moroha, but he found Kagura’s modern reincarnation, a human woman who looked startlingly like her. He followed her around to figure out what was up with her, she thought he was a creep (albeit a very pretty creep), he eventually decides to leave her because she’s her own person and not Kagura, she follows him because she wants to know where he’s going, she ends up going back to the feudal era with him on accident, they travel together for a while, fall in love, have babies, etc. So I guess in that sense the mother of Sesshoumaru’s daughters wouldn’t actually be Kagura, just like Kagome is not Kikyou, but regardless, she’d be as close to Kagura as he could actually get and that’s better than the alternative that the fifteenth episode of Yashahime suggested, so I’d take it. (Granted I would have taken just about anything over that, but still.) With this scenario, Towa and Setsuna (if we kept those names) would be younger than Moroha, and would have been raised together in the feudal era. If they end up traveling with Moroha, perhaps it’s because Sesshoumaru sent them to do it by suggestion. The twins think they’re just ~bonding~ with their cousin, or at least helping her survive in an era she’s not familiar with, but also their father is using them to spy on her to see if there’s any chance she could bring about the prophecy.

So yeah, that’s what I got. If I’d been asked to come up with a sequel to Inuyasha, that’s what I would have written. Of course there are more details that would need to be ironed out, but nonetheless, we’d have a clear goal from the jump, the correct character would be the main character, and there wouldn’t be any child grooming or pedophilia. Win-win-win, honestly. We could have had it all.

[shinidamachu]

yo asking someone to make a wish so half of their heritage is gone forever is fridge horror-level wtfness (thnx TV Tropes).

of course RT and Sunrise chose not to focus on it, and in mythology people do give up divinity or humanity for romantic reasons, but specifically in Inuyasha it was like ‘despite your demon half you can still live a good life’ as if he has some disease 🤨

like I get in history people have had to hide their heritage to survive war and avoid being shipped off to their death or lose their rights, but to ask someone to permanently discard half their heritage and presumably hide their origins until death is tragic as fuuuuuuuuuuu

It's not even that they chose not to focus on it, is that they deliberately portrayed it as this grand romantic gesture from Inuyasha’s part and for a part of the audience, it truly was. But then again, this backfired for people like me, because it only served to proof how desperate Inuyasha really was to fit in.

Poor guy was literally planning on using the jewel to become a full demon just the day before. Then, at Kikyo’s request, he agreed on doing the exact opposite with little to no deliberation other than “what will be made of you, Kikyo?” I can only assume he was afraid her feelings were conditional. That if he had said no, she would have called it quits.

Imagine the same situation, but this time Inuyasha has a support system to lean on. Prejudice against half demons are still a thing, however he has his parents, his friends, a place to belong. Would he still have said yes in order to live with Kikyo? I honestly doubt it.

You see, Inuyasha hates being human. Not in the sense of saying he hates it, but liking it in secret. He actively hates it. And I can’t stress enough that we don’t actually understand how rightfully entitled he is to hate it.

We know how a human body feels like, we’re used to have a human body. Inuyasha is only human once a month. The majority of time he is a half demon. That’s what he is used to. Even worse: put yourself in his shoes. If you were to lose half your strength, half your sight, half your hearing and speed every single New Moon, you'd curse that night too. 

Not to mention the sheer vulnerability of being emotionally and physically exposed, of not being able to protect yourself or the ones you care about and becoming a "burden” when he takes pride of being the (un)official guardian of the group. No wonder he felt so hopeless he made a point out of staying up all night. And this is what Kikyo was asking him to feel like every single day for the rest of his existence so their life together could be easier, with the aditional quicker of forever losing the features that marked him as his father’s son. You know, the man who died saving him and his mother.

Every single character that got close enough to find out about his night of weakness quickly became aware of how much he despises it. Now, we don’t know the exact duration of Inuyasha and Kikyo’s relationship, but here are our options: Kikyo didn’t know about the New Moon and that Inuyasha hated turning into human or she did know and decided to go for it anyway.

Considering that the latter option is straight up awful, I’ll just assume she simply didn’t know. What does this say about their relationship? If they were an item for a considerable period of time, how come she didn’t know about such a fundamental thing about him? Especially when people who weren’t even his love interest were aware of that fact pretty early on? What was it worth all that time together if they didn’t use it to have meaningful interactions and get to know one another? If Inuyasha was keeping secrets from her and if she wasn’t interested in learning them?

On the other hand, if their relationship was indeed short lived, that could justify the lack of knowledge, but a different issue raises: if they didn’t have time to collect basic information about each other, how am I supposed to believe in their love? How am I supposed to view the decision to erase his demonic side and live together as anything other than reckless, impulsive and thoughtless? How am I not supposed to see it as mutual convenience, a mean to an end? How am I not supposed to think they are acting out of lonileness and desire to fit in? How am I not supposed to think that if literally anyone else had given them the same options they would have taken it? 

A New Moon would have happened in at least one month, tops. That’s not love. That’s a thirty days affair. It could have grown into love, if given the chance, but the pairing seemed more interested in the life they ideolized for themselves than in each other.

I don’t think Kikyo meant it as an ultimatum or that she was disgusted by his demonic attributes. She wouldn’t have approached or kissed him as a half demon otherwise. But I think it’s hard to deny that she wasn’t necessarily fond of them either, since she jumped at the opportunity to get rid of them first chance she got, with no remorse whatsoever. As if it was a bonus. This allowed with the fact that the prejudice against half demons is an allegory for racism and that she used from false equivalence to make the point that both her and Inuyasha were in the same situation puts her in a bad light.

Inuyasha was isolated by people because of his heritage, something he couldn’t change without resorting to intrusive, traumatizing and permanent magic, which Kikyo herself suggested he did. Kikyo isolated herself. People loved her because of her status and she was a privileged woman in comparison. She could have dropped everything since she was unhappy living like that, but she spontaneously chose her duty and powers over love and an ordinary life. And as much as I disagree with her choices, I can at least respect and understand them. What I can’t do is feel sympathy for her when the consequences of said choices catch up with her.

The narrative doesn’t give this problem much focus, it treats it in a much more subtle way. For instance: the jewel only being destroyed by the right wish, paints wishing for Inuyasha to become human as wrong and selfish, with the potential to be catastrophic.

That being said, Inuyasha didn’t hate being a half demon, on the contrary. What he hated was being ostracized over it, so he decided to take matters on his own hands and, when he was free to choose between using the jewel to become a full demon or a human, he went the full demon route because he knew living as human would made him miserable. But the desire of being a full demon was a facade. What he so very clearly wanted, all along, was to be accepted the way he was. That’s why he had no trouble letting go of that goal to pursue the exact  opposite: there was no attachment to it. Full demon or human, he longed for a place to belong. If Kikyo was offering that to him, of course he would have taken it, even if becoming human was far from being the first choice.

Compare that with Inuyasha finally giving up from becoming a full demon, realizing he didn’t have to change at all, that he had a place to belong and people who loved him not despite of what he was but because of it, that he could be accepted as a half demon. Compare that with Inuyasha ending up with the girl that always encouraged him to be himself, with being comfortable enough around her to follow his instincts and embracing his canine mannerisms rather than shutting them down, which he didn’t quite did with Kikyo... The message is clear:

Kikyo should never, in any circumstance, have asked that of him. The implications of it were really bad and on paper it was a win-win situation for her because getting rid of the jewel to become an ordinary woman was something she already wanted. He was the one with the short end of the stick, sacrificing everything without the same level of compromising from her part.

And Inuyasha should never, in any circumstance, have accepted this deal. As his love interest, Kikyo should have been the very first persond advocating for him not to change. If the feelings they had for each other truly were love, then she should be the one helping him getting to terms with himself while he does the same for her, not legitimizing the absurd idea that a part of his essence was less worthy of existing than the other, that he should have be the one to change in order to fit in, rather than the people who oppressed him.

Thematically, even if subtle, the narrative did a decent job out of showing the audience how fucked up the whole thing actually was. What it failed to do was making Inuyasha and the others realizing how wrong it was and holding Kikyo accountable for her actions by making them talk about it.

Because God forbid Kikyo gets vocally told she was wrong (even though she often is) and God forbid Takahashi give Inukik the tiniest bit of substance and relationship development.

[lunarsaga]

EPISODE 1: Here Comes Trouble

[[HERE WE GO, BITCHES! Fanfic and Fanart combine to make some unholy mix of Time Consumption that will not leave me alone.

THE LUNAR SAGA, EPISODE 1, START!

Note: the text in the panels doesn't match the actual written portion of the fic ^^; I tried my best but I didn't wanna redraw all of this... ]]

===============

Kagome had been gone longer than she usually was, and Inuyasha was getting impatient.

They’d finally gotten their first lead on Naraku since his disappearance—that he was heading in the direction of the Ox and Tiger (Kagome called it “noh-rth-eest”?)—this was no time for her to be going back to her world! He tried to tell her that when she left, but she insisted that she was going home to bring back something that would help them.

She’d been gone for almost ten days now! What could possibly be taking so long?!

The half demon sat beside the well, seething as he waited for something to happen. He’d been at this pretty much constantly since the day after she left. He had half a mind to follow her down the well to her world and drag her back here; he’d done it before, he could do it again.

“Don’t you dare follow me!” Kagome had said before she left, “I might be gone a while, but I promise it’ll be worth it!”

“Ain’t worth it if we lose track of Naraku because you’re taking so long,” he growled to no one in particular. Obviously, he got no response from the dry well, so he stood up and raised his voice: “HURRY THE HELL UP, KAGOME!”

“Inuyasha?”

Inuyasha jumped from surprise when he saw Kagome hop up out of the well. She sat on the edge, smiling just softly. A little embarrassed that he was yelling at the well, Inuyasha folded his arms and cleared his throat.

“It’s about time you got back, Kagome,” he said. “What took you so damn long?!”

Kagome sighed, still smiling as she set her feet on the ground and stepped closer to him. “I told you, I had to get something. It took a second, but I said it’d be worth it, didn’t I?”

“I hope you’re right,” he snorted, “Because if Naraku gets away cos you took too long over there—”

He didn’t get to finish his thought. He hadn’t been paying attention to the well at all; usually, he wouldn’t have needed to. This time, he would definitely regret it. From the depths of the well came a voice he’d never heard before:

“HEADS UP!”

He didn’t even have time to wonder who the hell’s voice it was. Seconds later, something heavy flew out of the well and smacked him square in the face.

“WHAT THE HELL?!”

Kagome laughed nervously, holding her hands up, “Uh… that would be her.”

Anger boiling and holding his freshly bruised nose, Inuyasha shouted back at her: “WHO?!”

“Keep your pants on!” Came that same voice again. Inuyasha turned his attention back to the well as someone he’d never seen before pushed herself out of the well.

She dressed strangely—that was a given, she seemed to be from Kagome’s time—and carried a large, oddly-shaped bag on her back. She had thick waves of black hair, much longer than Kagome’s, but pretty much the same shade of jet black. Not only that, she seemed to resemble Kagome in a lot of ways, even if she looked much older. They had the same shape of face, the same nose, and the same round, brown eyes—although, if he looked close enough, he could see a strange pattern in this girl’s irises: little flecks of pale gold, asymmetrically surrounding her pupils.

Inuyasha was immediately on edge, his hand going instinctively for his sword hilt. Kagome saw, and shook her head, setting her hand on his arm.

“Relax, Inuyasha,” She said, “This is who I went back to get.”

“Sorry, did my bag getcha?” The girl asked as she hopped out of the well.

“Inuyasha,” Kagome continued, gesturing to the older girl, “Allow me to introduce you to my older sister. This is Luna.”

For a second, it didn’t set in. Inuyasha blinked once… twice… “Your… sister? You have a sister?!”

“She sure does,” the girl—Luna—stood tall, grinning and holding out her hand. As she did, she said something he didn’t understand. It sounded like weird gibberish. When she saw his face, she laughed and smacked her palm to her forehead. “Right, sorry. Still getting used to speaking Japanese more than I do English.”

Once again confused, Inuyasha just stared at her. “In-glesh?”

Luna nodded. “It’s the common language where I live.”

“Inuyasha, Luna lives in a different place than the rest of our family,” Kagome explained, “She lives in a country that’s across the ocean, called America.”

“A-mare-i-kah…” Inuyasha tried to say. “Sounds weird.”

“Oh it is, definitely.” Luna laughed, going to pick up her bag.

“Is that what took you so long?” Inuyasha asked Kagome, “You had to wait for her to travel across the ocean?”

“Didn’t take as long as you’d think, had to visit mom and gramps and Sota, too.” It was weird how casual this girl was about everything. “But I can explain why I’m here and where I’m from once we get to where we’re going, right?”

“Right,” Kagome agreed, smiling as she led her sister back toward Kaede’s village. “You gotta meet everyone else, too!”

“Looking forward to it.”

Inuyasha wasn’t sure how to process what the hell just happened. It was a lot of information in a very short amount of time, most of which he didn’t understand, and all of which he didn’t really like. He wasn’t sure how to feel about a new person joining their group, nevermind that he never knew Kagome had more family than the ones he’d met before. And the fact that she threw a heavy bag at his face certainly didn’t help. (Well… it was an accident, but still. It hurt.)

Well… at least Kagome was back, and the most important thing was that they could get on with their search for Naraku.

~ ~ ~

Alright, time to back up a little bit.

Now, there may have been a reason why Kagome didn’t really mention her sister. Part of it might have been that it would be hard to explain that her sister lived on another continent, but another part might have been that it would be even harder to explain why. And the reason it would be so hard to explain—for Kagome specifically—would be because of their father.

Now, the Higurashi family had quite a long history of shrine keepers, priests, and priestesses, dating back several hundred years. Along with that lineage came a propensity for spiritual magic and a connection to the supernatural, as well as the metaphysical, and Keiichirou Higarashi—father to Kagome, Luna, and Sota— was no exception. However, he had bigger dreams than shrine-keeping.

A bit of a rebel, Keiichirou spent some time in America during High School as a part of an exchange program. It was there, through the family that hosted him, that he found a world that he never would have imagined.

The underground world of Supernatural Monster Hunters.

He spent his high school years in America learning all about it: how to fight and protect people against different monsters, some of them like the ones his father told him stories of growing up. When he returned home, he declared that he’d found his calling, and when he could finally afford to, he would move to America to follow it.

His father worried about the fate of the Higurashi Shrine if his only child were to abandon their family’s legacy. Keiichirou wouldn’t back down, but found when he returned home, that the Hunting world extended even to Japan—not quite to the extent that it was in the States, but he could still find a middle ground between what he wanted and what his father did.

And in the interim, he fell in love and married a wonderful woman named Mei, who accepted his weird, secret world wholeheartedly.

The Higurashis’ first child was born on the first day of November, during a very full Harvest Moon. When she opened her eyes for the first time, the doctor immediately diagnosed her with partial Heterochromia; her hazel-brown eyes were speckled with gold just around her irises, making it look like she had little crescent moons in her eyes. Keiichirou chose her name for these reasons; he’d heard it when he was in America, a name that meant “moon”. Luna.

It was seven years until their next child came into the world: Kagome, named for the eight-pointed star Mei saw on her chest after she was born. Keiichirou was excited when he heard about that; he said that both of his girls had special gifts, and hoped they would one day do amazing things with them.

But another six years passed… and things weren’t so happy in the Higurashi house. Keiichirou had already started teaching Luna about the Supernatural world, where Mei thought she was too young. Keiichirou had grown weary over the years, still longing to go back to America, where the Hunter culture was strongest.

When Luna was thirteen, Kagome six, and Sota only a newborn, their parents separated.

Luna was old enough at that point, that her parents let her decide where she wanted to be. Enthralled by the idea of being a Hunter, she wanted to follow her father, even if it meant leaving the rest of her family.

Travel between the two countries was difficult; Luna was lucky if she saw her little sister and brother once a year. But they kept in touch as much as they could: by letter, by email, and a phone call every once in a while.

Then, just four years after he and Luna left Japan, Keiichirou passed away very suddenly of an illness. Despite her family’s insistence that she come back and live in Japan, Luna remained in her father’s house. She knew, by then, that she was too far into the Hunter world to leave; not to mention that she had Alice (an old family friend, let’s say for now), who had been helping take care of her anyway. So she stayed in America, as five more years went by.

She hadn’t talked to her sister in months, when she got a call from her out of the blue:

“Hey Luna, um… So, I’ve got quite the story to tell you…”

~ ~ ~

So here she was, Luna Higurashi, a 22-year-old American Monster Hunter, standing 500-ish years in the past, explaining herself to a half-dog-demon, a kitsune, a nekomata, a Demon Slayer, and a Buddhist Monk. All of whom were extremely surprised to find that Kagome had a sister.

“Nice to get to meet you all,” She said, “Kagome told me all about your adventures. She brought me here to help you get rid of that Naraku guy.”

“Kagome never told us she had a sister!” The little kitsune—Shippo—piped up first.

“So I’ve heard,” Luna chuckled, crossing her arms.

Sango, the Demon Slayer, looked rather interested in the guitar case Luna was carrying on her back. “You mentioned you were a Slayer too? That must be an impressive weapon you’re carrying.”

“Huh? Oh, no,” Luna shook her head, tugging on the strap. “This is just my guitar. It’s a musical instrument—all my weapons are in my duffel bag.”

While her attention was on Sango, Luna failed to notice the monk approaching her until he took her hand in his. “A demon slayer and a musician! To think Kagome never told us she had such a beautiful and accomplished sister.”

Luna just stared at him, but she could feel the tension rising from the Slayer next to her. It was like standing next to a crackling thunderstorm with lightning bolts ready to strike. But she had nothing to worry about, Luna wasn’t about to fall for it.

“Never did mention me, huh?” She reversed the gentle grip Miroku had on her hand, grabbed his wrist, and twisted it sideways; a warning. “But she did tell me about you. And if you value your hands, you’ll keep them to yourself.”

Miroku laughed nervously, “Ahahaha—ow! Th-there’s no need to be rash! I meant nothing by it!”

The thunderstorm was gone. Sango was smirking as Luna let the monk go. “Oh, I like her.”

Kagome sighed, shook her head and smiled. “Welcome to the group, sis.”

[lavendertwilight89]

Evergreen

IT’S HERE! IT’S DONE! THANK THE GODS!!!!!

This was something I originally just did a drabble on and then... well... ended up as an out of control monstersity of 26 freakin’ pages. It’s based off this original post and artwork by @heavenin--hell

Thank you to @superpixie42 and @sapphirestarxx as always for reading my dumpster work 

@dangerouspompadour this will be the universe your b-day gift takes place in

@dangerouspompadour @lemonlushff @willowandfog @cstormsinukagblog @keichanz @littlestuffstohide @clearwillow  @ruddcatha @hnnwnchstr @smmahamazing @wolverine1092  @inuyashaloverforever @xfangheartx @umacaking @bluejay785  @murdergiraffe @faulkner-blog

ALSO POSTED HERE ON MY AO3

ENJOYYYYYYYYYYYY

“What an arrogant, selfish, son of a–UGH! Like he has any right to say ANYTHING!!!!” Kagome seethed.

“Miss Kagome, the master means well,” Myouga tried to soothe the young woman about Inuyasha’s attitude towards her attire.

“You mean ‘means well’ as him being a crazy, overprotective, wordy, arrogant, prick?!”

“Miss Kagome, how much do you truly know about demons?” Myouga asked.

“Well as much as my research has told me, which unfortunately isn’t a lot compared to what I’ve learned just by being with Inuyasha for the past couple weeks. I mean, I just learned demons are actually in hiding when we had believed them to be instinct! It’s incredible! My actual professor is a demon!”

“Well, allow me to–ahem–share some things with you about inu-youkai in particular.”

“‘Dog demons’?”

“Preciously. That is the lineage of which my master Inuyasha is derived from.”

“Well I knew that from the way he snarls, growls, and basically barks,” she added rolling her eyes laughing at her own joke.

“Inu-youkai make perfect Guardians because they typically… find one person they wish to protect, and they latch on. They become overly protective of their uhm… ‘Chosens’, if you will. When Inu-youkai bred, their sons or daughters were often picked to become Guardians because their heritage made them perfect protectors. If they trained hard enough, they would be granted a member of the royal lineage to protect. There, of course, were other demons who also became Guardians such as ookami and kitsune.”

“But wasn’t his Chosen killed five-hundred years ago? Didn’t she seal him away? The guy doesn’t even know why… And why would he suddenly be so assertive in protecting me from a guy I happen to work with? I’m obviously not his Chosen or whatever. There’s no reason for me to have a Guardian. He just mistook me for her when I accidentally woke him up. Why is he still insistent he, I don’t know, follow me around like a guard dog? You just said they latch on to their Chosens, so obviously he’s just being crazy!”

Myouga sighed. He knew the young girl knew and felt more than she was letting on. If anything, she was just trying to save her young heart… The master was stubborn and after everything that happened five-hundred years ago, he couldn’t blame him. But he also knew his master was foolish, and Kikyo was not his actual Chosen… He could only hope his master could come to terms with his instincts before the damage he caused the poor girl was irreversible. 

Clearing his throat, he informed the young woman, “Youkai do not choose their Chosens; their Chosens are picked for them and I do not mean by the council. Just because they are given a royal member to protect, that did not make them their Chosen.”

“Wait, I’m confused–what–”

“Chosens are picked by a demon’s internal instincts, Miss Kagome. Once they have picked, they cannot let go.”

“I’m still confused; what does that have to do with me?”

“Sigh, you will learn soon, Miss Kagome. I am unfortunately not allowed to give any further information; I can only hope the master will be more forthcoming in time…” Myouga couldn’t give her anything else. Not until his master was ready. While the young miss was intelligent, he knew she had not caught the double meaning of the word Chosen. It had meant a mate, in the terms of youkai culture and for humans, a mortal a guard would protect. It was not Myouga’s place to tell the young woman that Kikyo had been his ward in a sense, but not his mate. His mate was Kagome and Kagome alone.

She thought quietly to herself on their walk to the museum to meet Hojo; she obviously had much more to learn from Inuyasha and she grew more determined in that moment that she would be pursuing that knowledge whether he chose to give it or not. It had been a couple weeks since she had awoken the half-demon. He was striking… handsome… daring… She bit her lip at the thoughts that his body stirred within her. It was embarrassing to be that attracted to someone she honestly didn’t know much about. But she also really admired him. Intellectually, he was a very fast learner. Stubborn. Quick to anger. Loyal. Ugh! He drove her crazy! What sucked was it sometimes was in a good way…

He had told her very little about his past. Bare minimum to be exact. She gathered from his experience of being sealed, he was very distrusting given that his last Chosen, Kikyo, claimed he betrayed her. She sealed him as punishment and when he awoke, she was gone—and Kagome was in her place. He mistook her for Kikyo because they looked so similar and he tried to just serve her, but she could tell how much he loathed it. It was rather annoying. 

After things had been cleared up and he finally realized she wasn’t his master or whatever he thought she was, he seemed lost. Distant. Irritable. He didn’t want to divulge more and basically always looked at her out the side of his eyes in a… securable kind of way. Like he was studying her. Anytime she asked him what was wrong he would grunt and turn away. That in itself was maddening.

Honestly, she felt bad for the guy; obviously something happened between Kikyo and him… maybe he was more than just her Guardian maybe they were…in love. She was what he referred to as his Chosen. 

But that was five-hundred years ago. Then again, to him it was a month ago. She resembled Kikyo, sure. Myouga even mistook her for the old priestess. That was probably half of the problem of why he couldn’t actually move on with his life. She was familiar to him but at the same time not. He made sure to rub her face in how unlike his former Chosen she was. Good. Fine. Whatever. She didn’t want to be like her anyway. She had been perfectly fine, living her life for the past twenty-three years without him anyway. She didn’t need to be reminded that she wasn’t… anybody else. She was Kagome; a student at the university, hand-picked by Totosai to explore the tombs to study the materials to prepare for her master’s thesis… She didn’t need to be anybody else for someone to fall in love with her.

Wait a—why did her thoughts go there?! They’d only known each other for a month! He hated her—yea sure, he protected her when those demons came alive at the museum, but he still felt it was his sworn duty to his master, Chosen, whatever Kikyo was to him. Sigh. She was pathetic. Maybe she should have just accepted Hojo’s proposal to be courted. She wasn’t getting any younger. She was too different from other women in this era anyway. The twenties were so...blah. She didn’t want to be a good little housewife. She preferred pants to dresses, research to makeup, and spoke her mind rather than kept quiet. Hojo might be what she needed to accept; but she definitely felt torn because now she knew what it was like to desire someone. To have some weird but magical pull towards someone she barely knew but couldn’t help wanting to learn everything about. But she knew that would never happen. He obviously had no desire other than to make her life and job a living hell. He… loved Kikyo. Kikyo was his Chosen. Not her. Not regular plain old boring Kagome. Just as Myouga said, ‘Chosens’ are picked by instinct. And his Chosen was gone.

What she didn’t realize as she was lost in her thoughts was someone lurking in the shadows behind her as she entered the museum to meet Hojo for the fundraiser. Someone who was not Inuyasha.

“What is wrong with that girl?” he asked himself, still sitting in the room where Kagome left him. Didn’t she realize by now he was supposed to protect her? Did their first run in at the museum teach her literally nothing?!

“Gods she’s just a–” he couldn’t finish that thought. The past couple of weeks had proven to him she was definitely not Kikyo. She was abrasive, vocal, assertive, annoying, stubborn, spoiled, quirky, kind, caring, beautiful–whooooaaaaaaaaa. And there went his thoughts again to a place he couldn’t go.

He exhaled in frustration. His instincts were all over the place. Five hundred years ago it was easier… Guardians were typically assigned a family to protect--specifically royal families or those who held important positions in the kingdom. Kikyo, the high priestess, and he were of similar age so he was placed with her. She required a full time Guardian due to her position in the palace. Her parents had been killed in one of the uprisings and she cared for her younger sister, Kaede. Kaede was still in training to become a priestess as well but lived in a different sector of the castle. He had grown to care immensely for the young woman. She was sworn to her duty. They were a fine match. Then all that crazy shit happened.

He felt betrayed. Hurt. But he was her Guardian. He was but a tool for her to use. While Guardians held their place by the ones they protected, sometimes more came out of it, other times they lived chaste lifestyles. Not every Guardian met their Chosen when they were assigned a family. He was but a half-demon. Not good enough for anyone or anything. He trained hard and proved himself in the trials to make his father proud since his brother had decided on a different way of life. The council had chosen him to become a Guardian because of all his hard work. It was almost unheard of that a half-demon made the selection. Not that half-demons were scarce. He, in fact, had been born because his father was placed with his own mother as a Guardian. But most had taken their places in the royal court with their families when that occurred—something Inuyasha didn’t want. He wanted a ‘simple’ life—to protect just like his father had.  

He passed all the tests and made the cut—then he had been placed with Kikyo and it was a good match; they worked well together. But that’s when things almost fell apart. Things he refused to think about, too fresh, too painful, took place and before he knew it, he was sealed away because of his ‘treachery’. But it was who had betrayed him. Then in a blink, he awoke and mistook Kagome for Kikyo.

He learned quickly they were nothing alike and her scent–Gods–that woman’s scent. It did things to him… things like the other Guardians spoke of with their assigned families when they found their Chosen. Like what his father said about his mother. They had referred to the ones they were assigned to protect as their Chosens—whether they were to mate with them or live a companionable life with them. His father’s Chosen, his mother, turned out to be his mate. It had been such a scandal because he had already mated with his brother’s mother. But the other demons understood, humans did not. 

His mother left the royal family to be with his father and they moved to live with the regular citizens. This had been one of the reasons he desired to take his place as Guardian—to prove his father had not dirtied their blood or soiled their name as the Taisho clan. 

When he met Kikyo he had thought she was beautiful. Refined. Poised. He had only thought that after they had met, they would probably grow to fall in love like others said. His father explained it wasn’t like that though. Inuyasha equated the mis-hit due to this human half. But now, he knew. He knew exactly what his father meant all those years ago. He had literally been slapped in the face and had his instincts take hold and never want to let go of that beautiful scent that was Kagome. To always be with her—someone who he had now sworn to protect, not out of duty, but out of desire. To love, cherish, and mate with her… Fuck. His mind and heart were literally at war. It wasn’t fuckin’ right.

To top off his emotional and instinctual angst, his fuckin’ chosen is out now with another male. Hobo or whatever. Yea, she said it was to gather information. Yea, Myouga was with her. Didn’t mean she had to show that much skin. Even though that teal dress was beautiful, her bare back was so alluring, her hair pinned up, her neck calling his name to bite and suckle. Mark. Dammit. He guessed to be fair… he had been avoiding her. Ignoring her to the best of his abilities anyway. After the shit in the past, how could he allow himself to get close to someone else? To be that vulnerable? It may have been five-hundred years for everyone else, but it had only been maybe a month for him… 

How could he even bring himself to open up such a sensitive topic? Let alone pour out his heart to a mortal who likely would look at him like he was crazy? Say, “Oh hey, I know you just learned demons are real and shit, but they also know their Chosens by scent and you’re it. You’re meant to be with me. Let’s go fuck.” Yea. Right. She’d probably push him back in the tomb and close the fucking door saying to hell with her research.

His eyes widened as he took in a scent of someone familiar, someone from his past, but someone he had also never met. He could sense a demon nearby. KAGOME!

He took off running down the street, forgoing his charm to change him into his human form. He needed his claws out and ready for whatever dumb bastard that thought they could attack his Chosen; they were gravely mistaken!

Son of a bitch! He froze at the entrance of the museum. He recognized this scent… It belonged to some other mortal Kikyo had a decent amount of contact with; likely someone who had been in the infirmary. Inuyasha’s guardianship wasn’t needed in that area according to Kikyo. How could they have survived this long—as a mortal—and especially if they were in that sick area being treated by the high priestess?

 “Miss Kagome, come this way! Let’s go meet with the financial coordinator!” Hojo took her hand and led her through the crowd.

“Miss Kagome,” Myouga whispered.

“What is it?” she whispered back.

“Be very aware of your surroundings… We are not alone.”

“What do you—”

“Miss Kagome, meet Mr. Naraku Onigumo. Mr. Naraku, this is Miss Kagome Higurashi,” Hojo said as he stepped aside to allow them to shake hands.

“Hello Mr. Onigumo, a pleasure,” she extended her hand to which he took. A sudden shiver ran through her body and she felt nauseous, so much so, that she almost dropped his hand in what she could only describe as revulsion… fear… emotions she did not commonly have towards strangers. But above all, the thing that bothered her was the smile he gave her when she trembled. It was dark, sinister, and while it was quick enough to where Hojo hadn’t seen, it was foreboding enough to make her want to excuse herself. She swore she could see images, almost like they had met in a past life. Ancient… clothing like Inuyasha wore when he was released from the tomb. The sinister smile and an evil cackle rung in her head. Why was she seeing these things? 

“Miss Kagome, I’ve heard many great things about you from Mr. Hojo. I am truly honored to finally meet you.”

She felt Myouga tugging at her hair that was pulled up and it gave her an odd sense of comfort, knowing he too, felt the ominous presence coming from the gentleman in front of her.

“That’s always nice to hear!” she laughed nervously. Her thoughts immediately went to Inuyasha—wondering where he was and if he would make it to her on time. But she couldn’t figure out why her brain thought she was on a timer or why she directly wanted and needed him. She really wished she had asked more about being a Guardian and how they were summoned…she swallowed. Could he possibly sense if she was in danger? 

She swore his eyes flashed red as he took a step closer to her making her take an instinctive step back. Smiling uneasily, Kagome tried to remain calm. He chuckled and put his hand around her back ushering her to go with him, “Come, let us get a refreshment and talk over some ideas I have. Mr. Hojo, please accompany us.”

Swallowing hard and trying to steady her breathing, she reached up so as to scratch her head to the naked eye, but dislodged Myouga and tossed him towards the door. She hoped he knew exactly what she meant since she couldn’t voice to him to go find who she needed. But considering he didn’t cry out or leap back on her shoulder, she assumed he got the message.

 Inuyasha followed the scent and ended up in the dark abandoned part of the museum. He looked around and was heavily confused on what was going on… It was like he was being lured there, like a distraction. But he needed to try and find the danger before it found Kagome. He had to protect her! His instincts were roaring to eliminate the threat then to find his Chosen. His mate. 

He jumped quickly when he smelt the change in the air and was able to dodge a wind blade that crashed into the tile floor. Landing ten feet away from where the blade hit, he glanced at where it came from and saw a woman dressed in modern clothing holding a fan—dark red eyes, hair drawn up in a ponytail, khaki pants, suspenders, a pink and magenta swirled shirt, and whoever it was, she reeked of that scent he recognized.

“Who are you?!” he yelled angrily.

“We heard the mutt was awoken. I’m shocked you aren’t with your master though…”she teased tapping her fan on her shoulder appearing bored.

“What!?”

“My master is probably doing what he did five hundred years ago to your former master…” she taunted.

“Stop speaking in riddles!” he snarled leaping to snatch her, but she gracefully jumped away and landed where he originally was before she had struck him.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Oh Inuyasha, you are a fool.”

“How the fuck do you know my name?”

“I’m not surprised you don’t remember me as I, technically, wasn’t born before your imprisonment. But you met my master, or at least, your ‘Chosen’ priestess did. She nursed him back to health. He fell in love with her kind heart, her position, her power. He began to lust after her and the better he got, the more he desired her. But she denied his proposal, claiming she preferred a life of solitude with her Guardian, just as a priestess should,” her voice sang.

Inuyasha was now growling but didn’t move. He needed to hear what this bitch would say next. She was speaking about Kikyo. Their past. What did she know?! Did she know why Kikyo thought he had betrayed her?!

“So, he sold his soul to the demons who wanted to destroy the palace. They ate him and he became my master, Naraku. He deceived your priestess and made her believe it was you, who betrayed everyone. He made it seem like it was you who killed the royal lineage; it is why she sealed you within that tomb. It was you who damned all of the youkai into total submission. It was made to be that youkai and humans could no longer coexist, making youkai go into hiding. You made them have to conquer the human lands, one by one. 

“And your priestess finally learned the truth of the deceit after fifty years. She was mortified that it was actually not you and she tried to unseal you but the spell was too powerful for her weak old body. She died next to your tomb, cursing the man she had married because she thought her only redemption of claiming you as a Guardian was to pray her descendants could do better… but then she learned Naraku was the one who killed everyone. Hahahahahaha! They always say karma is a real bitch.”

Inuyasha felt like his entire world collapsed. Myouga and Totosai had filled him in as best as they could on the details after he was sealed but he had not expected that…

He knew the royals had all been killed; their entire existence was wiped out within a night. He had been sent out by the king for another assignment away from the kingdom to forge a treaty with another area ruled by a half-demon and his bride. Kikyo had to remain there, tending to the sick and while he was unhappy with his assignment, he could not disobey the king. 

When he returned Kikyo was furious, screaming incoherently, pushing him away and refusing to be in his presence. She lured him down into the crypts of her home and then sealed him saying that he would regret the day he ever deceived her…

Myouga said after his sealing, the monarch dissolved. The humans rebelled and the Guardians who were still alive were forced to flee. His father had taken his mother overseas to be safe and start a new life. No one knew what became of his brother. 

It had to be a lie. “You’re so full of shit! You’re just trying to distract me!”

“Well, obviously. But I can assure you, I was telling you the truth with my little ruse. How does it feel knowing that you failed your priestess, and you’re about to fail your real Chosen,” she laughed, disappearing in a gust of wind.

“Son of a—”

“Master Inuyasha!” Myouga cried. 

“Myouga!! Why the fuck aren’t you with—”

“She sent me to get you! An old ancient demon named Naraku is the head financial coordinator and—”

“GodDAMNIT!” he growled taking off in the direction where Myouga came from. “You are gonna tell me everything I missed! I mean it! EVERYTHING! That fucking wind bitch said that the downfall of the royals was because of this Naraku, someone Kikyo cared for and he blamed it all on me!!”

“M-Master! We must save Miss Kagome!”

“You’ll fill me on the way or I’ll squash you and you won’t live to see how the next five hundred years turn out!”

“Very well master… what you heard was true. I—I tried to get here sooner but as a flea I can only move so fast. I heard what Kagura had told you. It is all unfortunately true. Naraku tricked the empire to believe you had killed the monarchy. It caused mass hysteria, chaos, and corruption. Naraku was able to take control of the rebellion, as a priest and promise that the Gods would bless his heirs that he would make with the high priestess. Kikyo married him and bore him sons and daughters. She learned the truth and was able to clear your name before her death, but had been unable to revive you. She had her daughter help her with a spell to help release you once your real Chosen, your mate appeared. The thing that could unlock your tomb would be her blood.”

“Why?!”

“So that you could be happy master! So that you knew it wasn’t a mistake that nothing ever happened between you and her! She knew how much you tried to care about her, but she knew that you were not destined to be together. While she loved you and you her, she knew she was not your mate. Grief overwhelmed her for all the pain that she caused because she had lured you into a life to live without your Chosen. The idea that she sealed you without even hearing your side of the story destroyed her. She knew then she had to correct her mistakes; she used her powers to see your real mate--and found her in the future. She saw the future you could have with her. That is why she changed the seal to open.

“You know that it is Miss Kagome who you are destined for! That she is your Chosen! Your mate!I think she even knows it to be true too, master! You just have to talk to her! She could sense the evil Naraku was emitting! It was like she remembered!”

“Why does that bastard want her?!” he snarled his eyes tinging red.

“Ma-Master…” Myouga saw his master losing control. 

“Answer me Myouga!”

“Because he knows she’s a Chosen. Your demonic Chosen. He knows it was she who was able to release you from your slumber. He plans on taking her away like he had done with Kikyo…”

Inuyasha didn’t reply as he raced to where the fundraiser was being held—he had to get to Kagome. He had already failed Kikyo and he felt like a piece of him was torn out. But if he lost Kagome before he even got to tell her what an idiot he was—he’d die. He would take his own life if it came down to that. He. Would. Not. Fail.

 Kagome felt like she was going to be sick as she was ushered out onto the balcony. Hojo had tried being helpful and offered to grab their drinks while they got to know each other before discussing the projects Naraku wanted to sponsor.

“So… tell me Miss Kagome. Any suitors I should be aware of?”

“Beg pardon?” she asked, trying to hide the revulsion in her voice. 

“Hahaha, oh Miss Kagome. What are you thinking about?”

I’m thinking about a way to get your sleazy hands off me… “No one of concern,” she offered.

“Obviously someone who is distracting you. Tell me about him,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her coaxing her to dance lightly to the music that they could hear from the banquet hall.

Trying not to tremble, she swallowed, “He’s just a…friend. We haven’t known each other long.”

“Ah, but it sounds like you’ve grown very fond of him. You know how the saying goes, ‘love at first sight’. I knew from the moment I gazed upon my wife. She initially did not accept my courtship, but I was able to convince her.”

“Hmmm,” she hummed. Maybe she was just imagining things. He said he was married. But, she just couldn’t shake this feeling of utter disgust as he tried to pull her closer. It was too intimate. It was like…“What is your wife’s name?” 

“Kikyo.”

That was all she needed to hear before she pulled away making him snicker. Her heart was beating frantically like it would burst out of her chest. She knew that name—Inuyasha’s former Chosen. How did this-this-this man know!

“So, he mentioned Kikyo, did he?”

“Who are you?! How do you know Inuyasha!?”

“You’re a feisty one,” he said as he raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The lights turned out and everything went silent. Kagome looked inside and saw everyone had passed out. What was going on!?!? She turned back as she heard him approach her again and took a step back again.

“What do you want!?”

“For Inuyasha to suffer,” he said, grasping her forearm harshly. She swore she felt her skin burn at his touch--she cringed and sucked her breath in to keep from crying out.

“Why?! What did he do to you?!” she demanded trying to pull away from him again.

“He stole the heart of the woman I loved.” She paused knowing he was likely talking about Kikyo. So she had been correct; Kikyo and Inuyasha were in love. It hurt… But she couldn’t explain why—it wasn’t like they were together or anything. Their time had even been five-hundred years ago. But still, she was, as crazy as it sounded, jealous.

“That doesn’t… Sometimes that can’t be helped… But-but even so! You just said you married her!”

“I did.”

“Then why—”

“As high priest, we had to restore the royal lineage that Inuyasha destroyed,” he said, smirking, his hand on her arm finally made her cry out. His touch was actually burning her—it wasn’t just that she was imagining things—he was actually harming her.

“Inu-Inuyasha didn’t do anything!” 

“How would you know? You weren’t even there. He killed all the royals. You heard the tales from Totosai and Myouga, did you not? They, of course, wouldn’t betray their master by divulging such information to a weak human.”

“That’s a lie! Inuyasha would never—”

“Oh, but he did my dear.”

“Stop!”

“LET GO OF HER!” Kagome turned her head to see a very angry and ferocious Inuyasha striking down onto the man holding her arm captive.

Naraku let out a cackle as he dropped her arm and disappeared into a giant purple fog as Inuyasha picked her up and jumped back. She swore she was hallucinating. She had to be. Within the last month, things had gotten out of hand. Maybe she should have considered checking herself into an insane asylum or something.

“Are you alright?” His gruff voice questioned.

“Y-yes,” she said breathily.

“Well well well, if it isn’t the half-breed himself,” Naraku remarked as he appeared on the museum’s rooftop.

“You must be Naraku…” Inuyasha growled, tightening his hold over Kagome’s body. Kagome finally had a moment to take him all in. His eyes were red, bright blue irises in place of his beautiful gold, purple jagged marks on his cheeks, fangs that dipped out of his mouth—what happened to him? Why had he transformed again? She was in too much shock to say anything—too much to do anything but rest in his arms as she idly traced the arm Naraku had burned. She felt nothing. But she knew she would once the initial scare wore off—she did her best not to look down at it to delay the inevitable. Instead, she kept her gaze fixed on the half-demon holding her in his arms and clutched his shirt with her injured arm as best as she could.

“That I am; it’s a pleasure to finally meet the disgrace in person.”

“What the fuck does that mean!?”

“I already filled in young Miss Kagome on what occurred five-hundred years ago. How you killed all the royals and that waswhy the Lady Kikyo sealed you away for all eternity.”

“Shut up!”

“Now now Inuyasha, it’s ok to be a monster. Kikyo fell in love with you just as she did with me. Obviously, she had a taste for things that were vile. Tell me, did she ever allow you to hold her at night? Allow her into her sweet--” he was cut off when Inuyasha was suddenly in front of him, swiping down with his claws snarling menacingly at him. Naraku laughed maniacally as he egged the half-demon-turned-full into battle.

Kagome had almost been dropped on her ass. Not that she could blame the guy--the love of his life was more or less defiled by this disgusting thing of a man that was prancing around on the roof. It still didn’t help her heavy heart. She heard footsteps come from the ballroom and she glanced to see two figures--a child with white hair, wearing a white dress, eyes as blank as unending darkness, carrying a mirror, and a woman who wore slacks and brightly colored shirt holding a fan. Kagome almost wished her life would go back to being the way it was before she met Inuyasha. Almost. The excitement would maybe kill her, but she honestly felt more alive than she had ever thought possible.

She stood and felt her hair fall from her tightly woven crown in the process, now trailing down her back, swaying in the wind. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“Run Miss Kagome!”

“Myouga?!” she looked down at her shoulder to see the flea that just appeared.

“That is Mistress Kagura, a wind sorceress and the child is Kanna of the void. She steals souls!”

“Souls? You must be joking!” Kagome tried to reason with the flea.

“I wish I were, you must try to escape until my master fends off Naraku!”

“I don’t need Inuyasha’s help,” she replied stubbornly.

“Miss Kagome! Now is no time to be stubborn!”

“He’s busy avenging Kikyo; I’m going to have to handle this on my own.” She looked around trying to find some form of weapon but had no luck. Maybe she could try to lure them into the museum so she could use one inside. Oh she was so going to be fired…

“You have a fire in you; a fire just like Kikyo’s,” Kagura spoke as she tapped her fan on her shoulder. “I will enjoy putting it out.”

“What do you even want with me?!” Kagome demanded.

“I’d thought that would be obvious at this point,” she said flicking her fan open and swinging it so the wind blades would strike.

“AIIII!” Kagome screamed dodging as best as she could. She jumped and swung herself away landing roughly on her stomach. Looking back at them, she quickly got to her feet with Myouga’s persistence to run. She took off and heard another swish of the woman’s fan as the crazy woman laughed at her struggles. Kagome jumped and landed on her back and thankfully the blades cut through the windows. 

Covering her head as the glass fell and rolling onto her stomach to cover herself more, she felt some of the chunks fall onto her back. She tried to remain calm. As calm as one could be with someone attacking them, that is. But she knew she had to keep her head level and focus on her objective; currently it was to stay alive. Fight. 

She stood once the glass stopped shattering on the ground around her and took off running into the building. Gasping, she tried not to stop as she saw all the people who were attending the event lying on the ground motionless. 

“Wh-what--Myouga! What’s wrong with them??”

“I told you Miss Kagome! Their souls have been taken!”

“Ugh! I don’t--Gahh!!!” she screamed as something grabbed her ankle swinging her down onto the ground breathlessly. She looked and saw Hojo above her with a blank look on his face.

“Hojo?! What are you doing!? Let me go!”

“And where would the fun be if we let you run?” Kagura laughed as she entered the ballroom.

Kagome struggled to push Hojo off of her so she could get to the next room. One room away. One room and she could get something to fight these demons. Muttering an apology, she kicked him as hard as she could in the gut causing him to roll off her. She stumbled getting up and again when she felt his hand grab her dress.

“Dammit! Get off!!” she yelled, kicking his wrist in a nerve to make him release his hold. She heard her dress rip slightly as she scurried off quickly. 

She barely made it through the towering archway as more wind blades struck.

“Miss Kagome! Quickly! The bow!”

“What??” she asked, covering her head as bricks and stone crashed down around her from the overhead. She screamed and tried to keep running even though she felt some of the stones falling upon her. Realizing she didn’t have time to argue or question Myouga, she rushed and felt the pull of the bow behind the glass frame on the far wall. She ripped the bottom part of her dress off and wrapped it around her arm. Punching as hard as she could, she shattered the glass that encased the ancient bow. Throwing down the torn rags, she uncovered her arm and grabbed the bow.

It pulsed in her hand. Pulsed. She swore to the Gods it did. It was… speaking to her. She had to have been going crazy at that point. Probably blood loss. Pain. Who knew. But either way, she felt the overwhelming urge to turn around at that moment. She swung holding the bow in front of her and squealed when she saw the wind blades heading straight for her. Unable to do anything, she held the bow tightly in front of her hoping and praying it would take the blunt of the blows as she squeezed her eyes shut. When she felt nothing, she peeked through one of her eyes and saw she was being covered in a weird purple-pink shield. 

Gasping she saw the demon with the fan narrow her eyes in anger. “Kanna,” she said with purpose.

The little demon with white hair raised her mirror and Kagome felt a shift in the world as she fell to the ground feeling suddenly cold.

 Inuyasha was in a fit of rage and felt like he couldn’t pull himself out. His body was no longer his own. All he could see was red. All he felt was underlying unadulterated blood lust. All he could do was attack. And there was nothing and no one that could stop his animosity as he attacked Naraku--sending blow after blow from his claws towards the fucking disgusting rancid demon taunting his every move... 

Suddenly, the thought occurred to him--why was he allowing him to attack so freely? He began to hear her--Kagome’s cries and he smelled her blood. His body froze. He felt like a building fell on him. His demonic aura almost dissipated at the thought of her being hurt because he had…

Fuck. He dropped her. Dropped her on her ass to attack the asshole who lured him away from her. He was so pissed off she had burns on her from the devil, that she had been screaming, that she had been left unguarded---he let him goad him into leaving her taunting him about how he defiled Kikyo! Fuck!! That wind bitch!!

“Ahhhh, just realizing that your replacement for our beloved Kikyo is in trouble? I will not permit you to leave. You will suffer the way I suffered when Kikyo cared for you. You will lose your humanity and become a mindless creature bent on destroying the world until you are begging for sweet death.”

“You and I are nothing alike! We are NOT the same!” Inuyasha yelled, his demonic features retreating as he was able to restore some of his head. His inner demon must’ve backed off knowing the blood lust was what got them in this position to begin with. Dammit all! Kagome!!!

“I think that we are more than you’d care to admit,” Naraku taunted as he finally released his attack; his body transformed into the ugliest fucking shape Inuyasha had ever seen. Wooden tentacles shot out and started to surround him. Inuyasha thought it was child’s play though. This was beginner level stuff from when he had begun his training to become a Guardian. Why was Naraku, a demon who had lived for countless centuries, so weak?? So unskilled?

After dodging  Naraku’s advances and swiping a few more attacks of his own, he noticed the tentacles were being reabsorbed back into the ugly fuck’s body. He growled and snarled angrily realizing he was playing with a goddamned puppet!!!

“Son of a--can’t you fight your own battles?!?! You have to use fucking tricks and others to fight for you?!? How cowardly are you!?!?”

“Goad me all you like, Inuyasha,” Naraku laughed maniacally. “Your time is almost up.”

“What does that mean?!?!” Inuyasha demanded. 

Before Naraku answered, he felt a supreme amount of reiki soar towards him. He jumped out of the way in time for it to strike down Naraku as the sick bastard continued to laugh. All that was left of him was a wooden doll with a black hair wrapped around it. Inuyasha recognized that power. He stood tall and turned slowly to face the person he was fearful to see.

He saw the haunting silhouette of the woman who trapped him in his tomb--the woman who sealed him away. But after the smoke from the ferocity of the arrow cleared, he saw Kagome holding the bow. Her dress was torn up, she had scratches and bruises all over her body, the burn still present on her forearm, her hair was free of the updo she had worked in earlier that evening… She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He was too entranced with her to realize there was something wrong.

“Ka-Kagome--” he took a step towards her about to say more when she pulled back on the string on the bow creating another reiki fueled weapon in the shape of an arrow. “Kagome?!!”

“You… betrayed me…” her voice was weird. Devoid of emotion even the words she used stung. They were the same ones Kikyo used on him five-hundred years ago before she sealed him away.

“Kagome! I’m sorry! I lost control! I was coming for you!” He was shocked when she released the arrow again that propelled straight towards him. He managed to clear it but only to have several more projectiles flying towards him. What the fuck was wrong with her?! Why was she so mad?! He trusted her--

That’s when it dawned on him--it wasn’t her. Kagome would never… She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. Kagome wasn’t Kikyo. He leapt towards and noticed her blank eyes as she swung the bow to hit him again. Before she could pull back the string and renotch another spiritual arrow, Inuyasha grabbed her bow to pull it out of her grasp. He had not expected the hand that was off the bow to swing and blast him with reiki. Screaming from the agonizing burn he jumped back away from her.

“Damnit!”

“Something wrong, Inuyasha?” Kagura laughed.

“Grrrrr… you again. What did you do to Kagome?!!”

“Nothing. Just told her the truth.”

“What ‘truth’?!”

“That you are in love with Kikyo--even though she isn’t really your mate. Kagome was a little upset to say the least. Kanna was able to open her mind and help her learn the spiritual techniques of her ancestors.”

Kagome restrung the bow and took aim at him again. He whimpered, unsure what to do, on how to save her. Fuck. He was about to fail again!

“Master Inuyasha!”

“Myouga!” Inuyasha huffed as he jumped away from Kagome’s new onslaught of attacks quickly grabbing Myouga up and tossing him on his shoulder.

“They took her soul and are controlling her, Master!”

“How the fuck do I get it back?!” 

“I--well--uhm--” Myouga stammered.

“Dammit Myouga! Get lost!” Inuyasha yelled as he threw the flea from his shoulder sensing the oncoming arrow he wasn’t going to be able to dodge without being in the direct path of another. He cried out in pain when the arrow struck his chest. But then suddenly vanished just as quickly as it struck him.

Panting, he was able to sit upright uneasily but looked up to see Kagome’s form shaking. Her hand that wasn't clutching the bow trembled the most, her chest heaving. She was fighting.

“KAGOME!”

“Ya-” she breathed. If it wasn’t for his demonic hearing he probably would have heard her strained voice.

“Kanna--what’s wrong?!” Kanna stepped forward and looked down at her mirror. Inuyasha could see clouds of white escaping while the mirror shook and he heard slight cracking sounds. He took the cue and leapt forward grasping his shoulder to hopefully keep it  from absorbing all the shock from when he landed. 

“Kagome! Fight it! I know you can!” he pleaded as he placed his hands on her upper arms. He wanted to embrace her, hold her, promise her everything would be ok--that he would save her, that he would protect her always--confess his love for the strange girl of the future era and admit he had grown overly fond of her. That he loved her, not Kikyo. That what he felt for her didn’t even compare what he felt for his old Chosen--who was just a Chosen… not his mate. 

Those feelings weren’t just formed because he could sense his demonic half claiming her as his mate. Yea, her scent drove him wild. Yes, she was fucking gorgeous. Strong, fierce, mouthy, but she was kind. Accepting. She gave him a home when she didn’t have to. She fed him, cared for him, helped him learn about the things that changed over the centuries. Her desire to help him belong, help him be able to be on his own if he wanted. The idea she offered to help him find a place when he was comfortable, or even offered to get him one and she would just check up on him, help him from a distance if he'd be more comfortable that way… she was just so amazing. How could he not--how could anyone not fall in love with a being like her?

She was so interested in his past. Kagome actually wanted to listen to him talk. It wasn’t just her filling the void. She treated him as an equal--not just as a Guardian. 

He couldn’t lose her! He refused to lose her! While he could fight a battle physically, he couldn’t fight it spiritually. This fight was hers--one of which she seemed like she was holding her own at. He had to encourage her--even if that meant he had to cross a line. He pulled her into his arms and pressed her face into his chest. 

In a drunken haze one night, she had admitted she liked how he smelled--like a forest. Pine trees. Musky. Something so… “Inuyasha” as she put it. He knew his own scent. He was surprised she was able to discern it so quickly. 

She had cuddled up to him and played with his ears.  It was so awkward because he was still in denial over her being his Chosen but he couldn’t resist her charms. He loved being in her company. Being in her attention. His body being touched by her.

“Please Kagome, I know you can do this--I believe in you,” he buried his nose into her hair trying to calm his raging anxiety. He couldn’t lose her--he just found her. The woman that had begun to heal his heart--he fought it for so long… But in that moment when he actually thought he would lose her--he couldn’t. He’d die if he lost her. Kikyo already passed on--his only real friend. His first friend. Kikyo's death hurt him, but he could move on. The love they had was more platonic--his love for the young woman locked in his arms was indescribable. 

He felt her grasp his shirt and he felt her falling; his arms kept a tight hold on her small body to keep her upright, “Inu--” she said strained.

“That’s it--I’m right here! Fight!”

“Kanna! Do something!” Kagura hissed.

“The mirror…” Kanna whispered.

“Fine! Dance of Blades!” Kagura yelled, swinging her fan at Kagome and him. He leapt out of the way, protecting her head by pressing his hand to the back of it as he kept a firm hand around her waist. He continued to dodge until the blades stopped when he and Kagura heard a large crack in the mirror. 

Inuyasha landed just as the white clouds burst from the mirror and soared through the sky. One shot towards him and Kagome making him almost dodge before Myouga yelled, “No! You must allow Miss Kagome to reabsorb the soul! She has summoned it!”

“She what?!” Inuyasha exclaimed as he felt her soul slam back into her body. He held on as he felt the pressure surround them. Once it seemed like her body fully absorbed, he felt her pulsate--like her soul was seeking something out now that it had returned to where it belonged.

“Inu…yasha…” she said slowly. 

Inuyasha sighed in relief but kept his hold on her, and tightened it slightly, “Kagome.”

Kagura scoffed, “How romantic--” She was cut off when another arrow went skyrocketing towards her and Kanna. Kagura quickly summoned a feather from her hair and they were lifted up into the sky making their get-away.

“Damnit! Get back here!” Inuyasha yelled.

“They are of no consequence--they are but tools of Naraku,” Kagome said coldly. It made him stiffen. The way she said it. The way she… He turned back to face the young woman and was met with deep blue eyes. Deeper than usual. Calculating. 

“Ki-Kikyo…?” he said in shock. 

“Hello, Inuyasha. It’s good to see you again.”

 Kagome felt cold. Stiff. Empty. Something was wrong. She had managed to get the bow hadn’t she? She had...deflected their attacks. Or at least she thought she did. She opened her eyes and was met with a beautiful woman--long flowing straight black hair, deep navy blue eyes unlike her teal ocean blues, they looked oddly similar, but somehow also so different. 

Gasping from fright, she looked around and was surrounded in darkness. Fuck! She had gone crazy! She finally cracked. Yep. That was the only rational solution. 

“You have not gone crazy, Kagome,” the woman in front of her said.

“What?! How did--”

“We are inside your mind. Locked. The demons you were fighting took your soul.”

“Who…? Oh! Those demons! But--”

“I know this is all new to you… but you remember. Some of your previous life--” the woman placed a hand on her cheek closing her eyes and sent images into Kagome’s mind. Images of a past life--

“Are you--Are you Kikyo??” The woman smiled in response. 

“I am. Your ancestor. And your previous life.”

“You are Inuyasha’s Chosen,” Kagome gaped at her former self. She was so beautiful. Refined. Proper. Kagome felt somewhat disheartened. No wonder Inuyasha couldn’t stand her. She would never match up to her. Kikyo smiled softly in return, a comforting smile as if she knew what she was thinking.

“Not in the way you are referring, young one.”

“What--”

“I am not, and was not Inuyasha’s mate. I was merely a priestess with a Guardian. A Chosen who needed a Guardian in the palace.”

“But he said--”

“He did care about me. And I, for him. But, not in the sense you think. We resigned ourselves to a life of companionship. I felt romantic feelings for him, but I knew it was not the same for him. I was not his Chosen--his Chosen mate. It would never have worked for us in the way you are thinking of. I was too tied to my duty to the kingdom. He was tied to restoring his family's honor and the love he felt for me was friendly. Not at all romantic. But it was okay for both of us just to resign to live side by side.”

“Just the way he talks about you…”

“Do you not have a friend you speak highly of? A friend you miss? A friend who you grew up with and you had to go your separate ways?”

Kagome thought of her best friend Sango and how they grew up together, lived together throughout college... then she met Miroku. He was a great guy, with great ambitions, and he really worked hard to gain Sango’s attention. He really made Sango his world and proved to her time and time again how it would always be her. And well, the rest was history. They moved for his work to the States and Sango happily followed. They kept in contact and Kagome visited as much as she could. 

“Yes…” Kagome said sadly.

“I know you have had a lot to learn recently. That this life can seem overwhelming, but I can assure you that it is a part of your destiny. That this is the way your life was meant to be.”

“But why--”

“Because you are Inuyasha’s mate.”

“I’m--what??!”

“You know this is true.”

“I-I--” she trailed off and pondered what Kikyo was telling her. 

“Think Kagome; you know this to be true. There is a force that is driving you to him. Even now--” They were interrupted when they heard a muffled yell. “He needs you.”

“N-no. I-I’ll--You need to help him! I-I can’t. I don’t know how--please--”

“Call out to him.”

“What??”

“Call out to him, Kagome. He’ll hear you and help you push through this darkness.”

Kagome focused on the outside of this void. She tried to project herself--the only thing that felt right, the way to get herself out of there. Her body felt like an unmovable wall. Something was moving her like she was a puppet. Only rather than being attached to strings, she was being moved by a remote control.  

She felt a large amount of power leave her as she heard Inuyasha yell at Myouga before he cried out in pain. Doing the only thing she could think to do was try to draw back what left her when she came back into her body. She tried to speak and it felt like she’d ran fifty miles. Gasping and panting, she tried to push through only to feel a heavy lump in her throat as she tried to voice his name as he called for her--”Ya…”

That was all she could get out before she was snapped back into the darkness with Kikyo. She cried. She was pitiful. Inuyasha deserved better. She was useless--hopeless. She knew nothing.

“Please… Kikyo please help him.”

“Kagome--”

“Please!!! You have to help him! Save him!!!”

“What if we cannot switch back?”

“I’m willing to die for him, Kikyo! Please!! I’m untrained and-and-and I can’t let them use me to destroy him!! Please!!! I know he’ll be happy! I know he loves you even though you don’t think so! I won’t make him choose! Please!!!!”

“As you wish, Kagome,” Kikyo sighed defeatedly as she disappeared from Kagome’s view. Kagome could still the tingling of power as Kikyo fought off the demons. She heard Inuyasha talking to her--soothing her. He really was kind. She was sad she gave Kikyo another chance, but she also realized their time had been short because that Naraku creep deceived them. It was only right. Kikyo was wrong. Kagome wasn’t Inuyasha’s mate. Kikyo was… and that was okay. When you loved someone, you let them go to be happy. That was the only way Kagome ever loved Inuyasha--unconditionally. 

She heard Inuyasha say Kikyo’s name and she had to remind herself this was her choice. Still, it didn’t lessen the quake in her heart.

 “Kikyo… where’s Kagome?”

“She--she wanted me to help you. She does not know how to use our power. Her desire to save you sent me into her body.”

“Is she your reincarnation?”

“Ironic, isn’t it? That I was not your mate, but Kagome, my ancestor, my reincarnation, is…”

“You know?”

“You are free, are you not?”

“So what Myouga said was true…”

“Indeed.”

“It--it’s safe now. Are you going to let Kagome come back?”

Kikyo shifted uncomfortably, lowering her eyes, “I believe I know the answer to this--as she is your mate. But, we have so much history. So much to discuss… Is that girl more important to you than I am?”

“I’m sorry, Kikyo. She is. While I get we didn’t get closure or whatever, I need her back.”

Kikyo looked up and smiled softly, “She’s already changed you.”

“What??”

“You have a more kind look in your eyes. Softer. You held me, or rather her, without reservation. Trust was never our strong suit even though you were my Guardian. Yet, you allowed yourself to get close to this girl within weeks, have you not? Even when she was attacking you, you automatically knew it was not her. In the past, you were more reversed and never voiced your opinion unless asked, but here you demand to see the young woman again. Even when you know that would mean my ultimate end.”

“...I--” He honestly didn’t know how to answer. Thinking back, he had been trying to push Kagome away. Keep himself from getting close to her. But obviously Kikyo, in some dormant part of Kagome’s soul, could see he failed. That he changed in spite of his stubbornness. “I’ve grown to care about her. A lot. I don’t think she feels the same, but it doesn’t stop my desire to be with her.”

“Why’s that?”

“You just said it--it’s been a couple of weeks. Things are different in this age of time, Kikyo.”

“Love never changes, even in time Inuyasha. And that girl--she does care for you deeply; she cares enough to risk imprisonment within her own soul.”

“She what?” He was shell shocked. His ears twitched. Did he hear her correctly??

“She sacrificed herself… She wanted me to help you. She didn’t believe she was your mate.”

“I--Kikyo I can’t lose her! I just found her!”

“Call to her--she can hear you. We both could as her body was being dragged around by the demons. It was what made her gain control to stop the arrow from purifying you.”

“Kagome!” he called as he clasped onto her arms. It was eerie having Kikyo’s stoic stare gazing back at him through Kagome’s eyes. That was one thing he cherished about Kagome; she never hid her emotions and was always upfront about when he pissed her off. What made her excited. What made her sad… He never wanted that fire within her to ever be extinguished. “Kagome! Come back!! It’s safe now!!”

Kikyo continued to look at him and slightly looked saddened--like she couldn’t hear Kagome’s response. 

“Don’t you fucking say anything--” he warned Kikyo.

“Inuyasha! Language!”

“Kagome,” he pressed on, uncaring of Kikyo’s reprimand. “You can’t honestly believe I don’t need you! I was never myself with Kikyo! I couldn’t be! I was just her Guardian--not her mate! I’m sorry I was such a dick! But it’s you I need! Kagome!!!”

“Keep trying Inuyasha. Don’t give up,” Kikyo offered him. She obviously could see he was clearly distressed.

“Kagome--come on! I--I know I was a jerk. I’ll be honest! I’ll talk. I’ll tell you anything!! Please--I need you Kagome! I--this sounds crazy but, fuck Kagome, I love you! I love how wild your hair is in the morning, I love how you speak your mind, I love how caring, accepting, and open you are! The way you breathe in your coffee and sigh, the way plop down on the couch next to me after a long day, even the way you sing songs non stop while you clean your house, are things I can’t get enough of. Your love and care is unconditional! Kagome--” he was out of options. Kikyo didn’t budge. The face of pity was what finally sent his demon into a frenzy. It was going mad at the idea he would never see Kagome again. It was angry he had been a shit mate and pushed her away--that he was the reason she left. 

“Kagome! Fuck! Kikyo! What the fuck do I do?”

“She can hear you, Inuyasha. I do not know why she is not emerging. She may not be able to… I warned her of this.”

“There has to be a fucking way!”

“Master Inuyasha!!” Myouga called from the ground below them.

“Myouga,” Inuyasha said, still highly anxious.

“Master! The Lady Kikyo is correct! You must call to Miss Kagome!”

“What the fuck do you think I’ve been doing?!?!”

“Master--you are so dense! Tell us! When you lost control of your demon the night of your awakening, how did Miss Kagome get you back to your senses?”

Blushing at the thought Inuyasha stuttered, “F-fuck! I don’t wanna force myself on her!!” He thought back to that day that felt so long ago--the day she awakened him…

He was so disoriented when he had awoken. She looked so similar to Kikyo--it made sense now. Kagome was her descendant and her reincarnation. They always said fate had her own plans. Fate was the creator of irony. After Kagome explained repeatedly she was not his Chosen, that he was not her Guardian, and that she was ‘Ka-Go-Me’, Totosai finally revealed himself. The jackass. Still had been up to no good and plaguing his family with his overbearing intrusive presence. 

Totosai left Myouga with him to explain things that happened over the centuries as he then explained to Kagome who Inuyasha was and who they actually were. Totosai left and Kagome apologized, after hearing Myouga explain things to him--about his sealing, about the change in time, about the death of Kikyo. She offered to help him--not leave him alone. He deserved a second chance and she would happily be his friend outside of her research project. She even humored herself saying they could learn from each other and once he was on his own feet, he could live alone. He was not amused; he was edgy and mad and frustrated and devastated, and--and--horribly confused. 

Kagome--her scent called to him in ways he never knew was possible. Her body, her figure--it made his mouth water. Her eyes that sparkled like the ocean peered into his soul. Her voice sang a unique song that seemed to calm his heart, his demonic instincts--but his human ego was utterly pissed off. He couldn’t help but be a straight asshole to her. How could this mortal be trusted? His own Chosen locked his ass up in a tomb for five-hundred fucking years! Someone he had trusted with his life, cared for deeply even though they weren’t…

OH. FUCK. The realization of everything came crashing down like a waterfall; Kagome was his mate. Those thoughts circled his head as he realized with his awakening, his aura had shot out powerfully. Not completely his fault--it was the part of the spell. He noticed his senses picking up movement, scents, and worse, youki. He pushed his thoughts about her being his mate behind him and pressed forward to the matter at hand.

He ushered her to follow but she was hell bent on leaving. She admitted the day was odd enough and she hadn’t planned on trying to get more attention. The problem was by the time they made it upstairs, they were surrounded. Things were awakening and those things wanted to eat. Souls. Flesh. Whatever they could get their grubby little hands on. 

Inuyasha was still feeling the effects of his sealing. It took far longer to beat off the low grade demons and it awakened his demonic state when he heard the dumbass girl cry out when he didn’t make it to her in time. 

The next thing he knew outside of the lust for blood underneath his claws, the drive for sheer power, and the desire to find his mate and rut her into submission was Kagome. She had her body pressed intimately against him and she was kissing him--hard--embracing him fully. Her hands had cupped his cheek, breasts were pressed against his chest, her legs flushly between his own as her lips covered his own. He wasn’t really sure what the fuck happened. Once she broke loose she looked around and sighed in relief. She apologized profusely explaining someone must’ve heard them fighting with the rogue demons and came looking. A security guard or something. Since Totosai had said demons were hidden in this world from humans, she had to think fast of a way to hide and make his snarls and growls stop. 

What had floored him was she apologized to him for forcing herself on him. A demon. A half-demon. She apologized to him for making him uncomfortable. Not the other way around. The fact she even got so close--his demon purred in contentment until it wanted more. It made Inuyasha withdraw from her. He was scared of the feelings he was being plagued with. Obviously she took it as disgust. Or that he loved Kikyo. Shit. He was already the worst mate. But his anxieties had been justified at the time. Now--now they are what drove his mate within herself. Fuck.

Kikyo continued to stare at him, whether or not she knew what transpired between him and Kagome those weeks ago, she offered no words of comfort or disappointment. 

"Master! The Lady Kikyo will not see it as such! That is not her body!"

"It may not be her body flea but it's her consciousness! I--uh--"

Kikyo giggled, flustering Inuyasha more, "Oh Inuyasha, I understand there is no meaning for this kiss towards me; I know it for Kagome.”

“God! You guys are just assholes!” he added as he blushed. “Is.. I know you said Kagome can hear us… is she saying anything?”

Kikyo shook her head, “She has remained silent. I sense her emotions. But she has not spoken to what she is hearing. I’m not sure if she is being receptive or not. It’s possible she thought you would be happy to see me again and shut down.”

“I don’t know why she’d think something so fucking stupid! So you’re telling me she can’t hear anything?!”

“I am not sure Inuyasha. I know we could hear you from inside the void when our soul was taken by the one known as Kanna. There is no reason to raise your voice to me in such a way.”

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and exhaled in agitation, “Listen Kikyo, I am not the same guy as I was five-hundred years ago. You said that yourself. Kagome has accepted me for who I am. I’m not gonna just revert back to being your guard dog--I’m Kagome’s Guardian now. Do you hear that Kagome?!” He grasped her arms harshly. Pleading that she felt it deep down inside herself. “I’m more me with you than with Kikyo! You better get the fuck back here because I’m not gonna hide who I am! I’m happy with you Kagome! You are the one I’m meant to be with. God I hope you’re fucking listening because I’m not gonna to repeat this! Damnit! Woman! Grrrrr,” he growled, finally pushed to the limit and dropped his lips to hers in bruising force. This had better work…

 Kagome tried her best to keep things muffled--she didn’t want to hear Kikyo and Inuyasha’s reunion. The sweet nothings he’d whisper to her ancestor, the confessions of love, and the intimate position they probably were embracing in… God. If she could sink further into herself, she would. She would happily accept death if it would make Inuyasha happy. 

Was she pathetic for thinking that? For giving up? Was it technically giving up? She said she would help him learn to be able to survive on his own. Her staying here would void that promise. But she would be giving him Kikyo--someone she knew he cared deeply about. That was a better gift right?  

Kagome heard him yelling something about being stupid--her hands were still clamped over her ears but his shouts was loud enough to make it through her barriers she placed over her heart. Did he think she was being stupid? Foolish? Whatever. He didn’t have to tolerate her anymore anyway. Her despair fell off of her in waves. 

Why did Kikyo tell her to think about her feelings towards him anyway? She knew she was his mate? She knew she liked the guy… okay, obviously she was in love with him. Sacrificing herself proved that little tidbit. But--what were mates?

Myouga hadn’t elaborated very much. Just said that there were two different types of Chosens. 

Kikyo said she was different from the type of Chosen. Whatever that meant.

Were mates--well duh, they had to be a demon related thing--a ‘mating’ thing? That’s how zoologists described animals reproducing. Why would Kikyo say they were mates?

Was she saying they needed to ‘bang’ it out? Not that Kagome was opposed--but God forbid if that ever got out that she had sex out of wedlock. Then again, maybe it was normal for Inuyasha’s time? She couldn’t imagine he was in uhm… ‘mint’ condition. But then again, anytime Kikyo came up, he got a sour look on his face and she had dropped the subject. But Inuyasha was too good looking to be turned down. Sighing, Kagome declared she would do more research about five-hundred years ago and demonic breeding… if she ever got out of the darkness. 

She heard more yelling and she was starting to get even more upset. This jackass couldn’t appreciate anything she did for him! Typical! What an asshole! What was his problem?! He had Kikyo! He had Totosai and Myouga to help him adjust to the time. One little promise of sticking by him shouldn’t mean so much to the guy. God. Jerk.

Her heart began to flutter rapidly when she swore she heard him say something about being his mate. But everything was muffled and distorted. No way she heard him correctly. That was when she felt an odd sensation on her lips. Clearly she was going mad… he wasn’t kissing her. He was likely kissing Kikyo…

But her soul kept fading in and out--or in and out of her consciousness. Whatever the darkness she was in. It was hard to describe or know what was going on. She finally saw him. Fuck a duck. He was kissing her. Her. Well--scratch that--he was kissing Kikyo but it summoned her back. Unknowingly and unwittingly. Damnit!

Gasping she gained his attention and his eyes opened. His bright amber eyes bore into hers. She knew she was blushing madly as he pulled back and said her name breathily.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to come back!”

“Wh--What?!!?” his gentle caring eyes turned angry. “Why are you saying it like that?!!?”

“You--you were kissing Kikyo and I--I--I don’t know but I came back out of the darkness!”

“Duh! That was the fuckin’ point, idiot!”

“UGHHHHHH! You’re so frustrating!!! Can’t you appreciate anything I try to do for you?!?!”

“Who said I wanted Kikyo back?!!?”

“You!!”

“When!?!” he said, gripping her arms tightly.

“Uhmmm…” Well come to think of it, he never voiced such a desire… “Okay, maybe not out loud, but you did with your actions and insinuations!”

“And you know what? That is my fault. You’re right. I’m a shit mate for making you feel unwanted but I had a lot to process in the past couple of weeks! Give me a fuckin’ break!”

“Well of course it is and--wait--what?!?!” 

“You heard me, wench.”

“N-no… wait--uhm--” she stammered as she looked away blushing.

“Uh uh,” he said, grabbing her chin with his fingers pulling her back to face his intense eyes. “I admit I fucked up; I almost lost you, Kagome. But tell me why in the seven hells you thought it would be a good idea for you to sacrifice yourself to allow Kikyo to come back.”

“You’re in love with her--and I--” she swallowed thickly the ‘L’ word that threatened to escape her lips and pressed on, “care about you. I wanted you to be happy--even if it wasn’t with me.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I think I have ever heard. That includes the time you told me you rode in a metal cart machine to work and that if it crashed it would kill you.”  

“Inuyasha--”she warned.

“Kagome--I tried to tell you that Kikyo and I were not in love. I was just her Guardian. That’s it. We obviously didn’t trust each other. That’s not something that can’t exist between mates. Tell me--do you trust me?”

“What does that have to do with anything?? Of course I do!”

“Why?”

“I--uh--” she trailed off really unsure how to answer the question. Why did she trust him so undyingly? When she awoke him in the museum, she held no fear of him. She even bossed him around and asked him fifty billion questions. Just like he was an old friend of hers she hadn’t seen in forever, not a five-hundred year old demon who could have easily killed her. 

“Exactly. You just do. You know I would never harm you,” he breathed, his face oddly close to hers as his hands somehow found their way into her hair. His fingers brushed through it lovingly, making her sigh shakily.

“I-it could just because I’m a descendant of Kikyo’s.”

“Your theory doesn’t hold up Ka-Go-Me. Kikyo didn’t trust me.”

“But--she learned the truth didn’t she??”

“Doesn’t mean she trusted me. She just knew I didn’t commit treason,” he found a particular stand he had fingered through fascinating to her relief as he looked away from her. His body in such close proximity made hers hot even though her dress had seen such better days. She needed a moment where his eyes weren’t glued to her. 

Closing her eyes, exhaling again before speaking, she whispered, “I’m sorry. Were you two able to…?”

“No. But I made my peace with it. She knew the truth; I didn’t need an apology or an explanation. Not really. I just needed you back,” he admitted.

Her eyes shot open and relocked with his, “What?”

“You need to start listening; it’s probably why you end up in so many fights,” he smirked.

“Listen to what!? You’re making no sense!”

“You are my mate, Kagome. My Chosen. Not someone I have to protect--but someone I want to--someone I need to. Not for the sake of honor, but for the sake of living. If you ever died--I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I wouldn’t be able to survive. The fact you were almost sealed away inside yourself… it was enough to make my demon stir and almost emerge and go into another killing frenzy.”

“Like earlier? When Naraku said that awful stuff about Kikyo?”

“I was already transformed because your life was in danger. Being that enraged and pissed off about your safety, seeing he had burned your arm, I was easily baited into fighting with him. He had wanted to drive us apart. The fucker nearly succeeded too; I left you unprotected and vulnerable while I tried to exact revenge for Kikyo and myself. I screwed up. Big time. I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”

“There’s nothing to forgive though, Inuyasha. I understand,” she said as she stroked his cheek.

“See? I don’t know how else I can prove to you that you’re my mate. You know it deep down.”

“I… I guess I just don’t totally understand,” she said softly.

“Mates--it’s hard to explain because I've never had one. Myouga knows more than I do--speaking of the useless asshole--where are you?!” he called.

“Right here, Master! Didn’t want to interrupt such a tender moment.”

Welp, that was embarrassing--she turned six shades of red but Inuyasha secured his arms to wrap around her as he held her close. She took the opportunity to bury her head into his shirt and prayed maybe the ground would swallow her up.

“Myouga,” he warned.

“Sorry Master!”

“Can you beat it? We can talk later.”

“Did you want to know the full details of mating though?”

“I think I can handle the easy details asshole, can you just get the fuck outta here??! Go make yourself useful and make sure the other people in the building got their souls back or whatever,” he yelled, swatting Myouga from his shoulder followed by a terrorized scream.

“Sigh, you didn’t have to be so mean,” she chastised.

“Yea, yea, you didn’t have to live with him five-hundred years ago.”

“Anyway,” she said, clearing her throat, hoping maybe he’d release her. Okay that was a lie--she never had felt so at home or safe being next to him. Or rather, in his arms. But she wasn’t very comfortable with intimacy. It was highly taboo. The idea just made her face light up further.

“Yea… mates are--to demons, they are uhm… Fuck, I hate having to explain shit. But you need to know. It’s like a husband and wife thing with humans. But it’s permanent. There’s no going back once a demon has mated. Their souls entangle and their lives get--shared I guess? I’m not clear with all the details and specifics, just the general idea of everything. I just know that it’s a rather large commitment.”

“Okay,” she replied softly.

“What?”

“I said okay; as in, okay, I’ll be your mate.”

“Kagome--you can’t just agree to it not knowing--”

“You’re right though. I--I think I’ve always known. Just how easily I came to trust you, offer you my home without thinking about how uhm--improper it would be, how I turned down Hojo--”

“YOU DID WHAT!?!? THAT LITTLE FUCKER--”

“--just everything makes sense as to why I’ve lived my life the way I have by now. How I ended up with a demon professor and boss--it’s just… it makes me happy. Knowing I actually do belong.”

“You’re--you’re crazy you know that, right?”

“Yea, I get that a lot,” she smiled brightly up at him.

He leaned his head down to rest his forehead against hers, “I’m not gonna mark you--to be my mate yet. I want you to be sure--to know all the details, okay?”

“Sure...whatever you want to make you feel better.”

“Stupid, it’s to make sure you do.”

“Whatever, don’t kid yourself, we both know you’re nervous about this,” she teased.

“Well yea! I’m not gonna listen to you bitch the rest of our lives about how I fucked over yours.”

“Inuyasha,” she warned.

“Keh, don’t worry about it--I’ll listen to you complain and whine about anything else.”

Rolling her eyes, she scoffed and he laughed. LAUGHED. “What have you done with my Inuyasha?”

“Wench,” he warned teasingly. “Let me just tell you how seeing you back in your body has given me a whole new take on life. What’s that saying? ‘Separation makes the heart grow fonder’? The fear of losing you, I just--I swore I would be honest with you. I know we may have a war coming up with this Naraku freak but--I--”

“I get it, Inuyasha. I understand. I feel the same.”

“Do you?”

“I love you, Inuyasha. I--I don’t know how, why, or when it started… but I do.”

“I--fuck it--” he cut himself off by grasping her face and pulling her back into a fierce kiss that she excitedly returned. Even though his tongue traced her lips and she opened her mouth, accepting him and even returning the gesture as she sought to scrape her tongue against his fangs, the kiss remained tame. It was hot. It could have easily made her forget her virtues and what he wanted, but she held herself back on what little thread she could.

“Mmmm,” she hummed as he pulled away.

“I’m serious about waiting. I--I would like to court you. If you’ll allow me.”

“We can work out all the details later,” she smiled softly.

“Deal,” he said, sealing their agreement with another kiss.

[shnuggletea]

Sorry but I couldn’t get this posted on here yesterday. I only had my phone and it gave me the finger when I tried lol. The Tumblr app doesn’t like big posts like this one. 

The last day, Lust! I’m a little sad but also relieved. I really didn’t think I’d make it lol! For the edited version, take your pick between FF or AO3. For the uncensored version, head over to Patreon or keep reading.

Thank you again @clearwillow for the amazing art. Seriously you’re easily one of my favorite fan artist. And to @lemonlushff, @neutronstarchild, and @ruddcatha for hosting!

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Lust

“Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves.”

-Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate

“What are you doing here?!!”

Naraku was lounging on my bed, smirking up at me when we returned. I was planning on sharing the bed with Inuyasha. It wasn’t like I had a second bed.

Inuyasha followed me in silently but when I turned to explain Naraku’s presence, he was gone. “Inuyasha?” A few steps back I found him, already settling on the couch. “I’m so sorry about this, I didn’t know he was going to be here…”

“Why wouldn’t he be? He’s your mate?”

A smile forced its way onto my face and I shook my head, “but he isn’t, is he? I’m not meant to be with him…”

“What’s the Mutt doing here?” Naraku had found us, raging with his tone at Inuyasha. But then he turned to me with his anger. “Why is he here?!”

“We’re correcting a mistake. You can go to Kagome’s now if you want….” Both men growled at that but I was only concerned with Inuyasha’s. “Don’t worry, I won’t let her do anything to you.”

“Kagome would never do anything to me anyway. Other than let me go.” Inuyasha said, his hurt clear.

Naraku laughed, “what did you do? Master wouldn’t have let you go so easily? You fucked up somehow didn’t you? Was it after you laid with her? Don’t deny it, I can smell her on you.”

Inuyasha was in Naraku’s face in a blink, moving at a speed my brain couldn’t comprehend and I backed up with my fear. They both ignored me and my whimper, too into one another at the moment to care that they were scaring me. “Say what you will about me, but watch what you say about Kagome.”

The sob I choked on got attention, both Naraku and Inuyasha looking at me with concern. But Naraku’s was somehow stronger than Inuyasha’s. “She still has a hold on you, doesn’t she?”

“Of course she does, she’s my Mate.” 

Inuyasha was looking at me confused, his black brow raised liked it was when I first mentioned this, us, to him. The kiss didn’t work after all. The only thing that would work had to be sex. It made sense, what with him sleeping with Kagome. No way I was going to get him to sleep with me with Naraku here. It would have to wait, Inuyasha would have to suffer another night until I could get rid of Naraku and then fuck the spell out of him. 

The thought brought a smile to my face, Inuyasha under me and thanking me for freeing him? Loving me? It was enough to put up with Naraku but only for a while longer. “How much longer are you going to stay here?”

Now Naraku looked confused, arching a brow just as Inuyasha had done. It made my heart skip for some reason. “Where else am I supposed to go?”

“I told you, you can go to Kagome’s…”

“Stop saying that. He doesn’t belong there!” Inuyasha raged.

“Oh, and you do?!” I countered.

Naraku grabbed my shoulder and held me hard. “Actually, he does.” He turned me to face him, glowering down at me. “What did you do?”

“She showed up and kissed me,” Inuyasha answered for me.

Naraku turned purple. “Why? To what end?” My eyes bounced from Naraku to Inuyasha and he laughed. “You really are an idiot!!”

My mouth flopped open and my phone rang. The fight I had towards Naraku twisted as I looked and found Kagome’s name on the screen. Racing, I got away from the two of them and sat on my bed, door closed, before I answered. “Yes?”

She breathed into the receiver heavily. Kagome was still crying. “Is he okay?”

“He is.”

“Kikyo… please don’t hurt him. He’s not like your other men…”

“I’m not going to hurt him, Kagome. He’s my Mate.”

She sucked in a breath so loud I could hear it over the phone. “Naraku’s your Mate.”

“No, he’s not. We got them mixed up, too caught up in them being there in the first place and took the wrong men. I was always supposed to be with Inuyasha and you Naraku.”

“It doesn’t… it doesn’t matter. I love Inuyasha…”

I huffed, “you sure have a funny way of showing it. Making him sleep with you with your control over him.”

“I didn’t do that. I made sure I didn’t say anything. Just like when he left I… I said nothing so I didn’t sway him with this… magic. But it was because I care about him and love him, Kikyo.”

My stomach was twisting and my heart was pounding. These were feelings I hated. I hated guilt. “Why are you telling me this? It doesn’t change what you did to my Mate.”

That’s right, I was the one slighted, not her. She was the one that took my Mate and used him. She changed him, made him hers without so much as asking me. The spell should have made me the one in control, then the men would be free to choose as they should. Inuyasha never would have been Kagome’s, he would have been with me like he was supposed to be. 

“I just… I wanted you to know that. That nothing I did was out of malice or cruelty. I love Inuyasha and… I love you. You’re my friend and I want both of you to be happy.”

I felt it fall but quickly swiped it away, the tear that rolled down my cheek. “Kagome….”

“That’s all. And… I’m sorry but I’m going to need some space for a while. I want you to be happy but seeing you two together will… It will break me. Okay?”

They wouldn’t stop, no matter how many times I brushed them away, the tears wouldn’t stop. “I’m… I’m sorry, Kagome.”

I don’t know if she heard me, the line was dead when I checked. I never intended to hurt Kagome, I just wanted to do what was right. She would feel better later, Inuyasha wasn’t her soulmate. She just needed to be with Naraku. He would make her feel better.

Taking a moment more, I collected myself and hurried back to Inuyasha. He would make me feel better. 

But I opened the door to find both him and Naraku on the other side of it. Inuyasha was caging the door while Naraku a short distance, leaning against the wall all closed off. Two men waiting for you is usually a turn on. However, neither were happy at all. Especially Inuyasha.

“What did you tell her?!” Inuyasha roared.

I glanced back at Naraku who did and said nothing while Inuyasha looked ready to tear me apart. I was on my own, as usual. So I took a deep breath and swallowed my fear. “I told her the truth. That you were only with her because she told you to be.”

Naraku laughed hollowly. “Dear God, you are an idiot.”

Inuyasha stood up straight but didn’t stop blocking my exit. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Naraku was still silent, leaving me to explain. He was the demon, the one brought here. Shouldn’t he know? Shouldn’t Inuyasha know exactly what I was talking about?! “Her control over you! Overall of you!! She says the word and you would all jump off a cliff!”

Inuyasha’s claws slapped into the doorframe, dangerously close to slapping into me, and growled. “Did you tell her that? Did you tell her she controlled us with her words?!”

“I… I didn’t…” I had to take another breath, Inuyasha scaring me senseless. Naraku finally stepped in, pulling Inuyasha back who only knocked off his hold harshly and paced away. “I didn’t tell her, she already knew what she was doing and still didn’t stop. I know you’re upset, that she took advantage of you but it’ll be alright! I’ll break her hold on you, I swear!”

 I couldn’t tell if Inuyasha was pissed about losing his virginity by suggestion or if he was just still under Kagome’s spell, forcing him to be angry at me. But Naraku was placing himself between me and him. “Please forgive my Mate. She knows not what she’s doing.”

“I do know!!”

Naraku pushed me back and shut me up, glaring at me as well. Inuyasha wasn’t looking at either of us save to throw a growl every now and then. “She didn’t say anything when I left…”

“So she didn’t influence you! Kagome is a good person, I swear. She knew about her control so she said nothing. I don’t know why she still slept with you….”

Inuyasha turned, gunning for me for a second but Naraku blocked him. It turned Inuyasha from his path towards me and my heart slowed a little bit but still raced with fear. Maybe I shouldn’t say anything else?

“You could go to her? It’s not too late.” Naraku offered as if it was obvious.

Inuyasha perked at that, stopping with his ears straight up. They had been pinned to his head since he left Kagome’s, making them easier to forget. A shiver of disgust ran up my spine at the sight of them. But it didn’t last long, Inuyasha saying nothing more as he split out the window. 

“Wait!!”

But he didn’t, ignoring me and jumping out the fifth-floor window. Naraku had me in his hold, keeping me from going out the door. I wanted to be free, to get out of his hold and chase after Inuyasha. When had Naraku ever given me what I wanted? Lifting me off my feet and slinging me over his shoulder. 

“What are you doing? Put me down!!!”

“You’ve been a very bad mate.” He slapped my ass hard for emphasis. “I’m going to have to teach you a few things.”

He was heading for the bedroom so I kicked against him. “I don’t want to have sex with you!!”

“Yes you do, I can smell it on you already,” he took a deep whiff and I clenched my thighs together tight, “that makes no differences, you know, I can still smell you. Smell your want.”

“I want Inuyasha, not you!”

Setting me down, the bed was right behind me. “You want to satisfy your lust without falling in love. And you push me away because you love me and that frightens you more than death.” After the shock wore off, I shook my head, but he stopped that, cupping my cheeks hard and fast. “I know your past. Your father, your mother, both worthless. And undeserving of you. As were all the men you sought out to replace them.”

“Shut up. You don’t know me, you’ve known me less than a day!”

“I know you, I’ve seen you almost all your life. You are me. Like it or not, you love me and I love you. It’s a weakness but we will face it together.”

He shut off all other conversations with that, thrusting his tongue into my mouth and pushing us back to my bed. It didn’t seem to matter that I was furious with him, talking as though he knew me, letting Inuyasha getaway, continuously calling me his mate. His mouth on mine had my body filling with heat that I needed him to put out.

Naraku stripped me and I let him, writhing under him as he laid back on top of me. Holding himself over me, he ran a heavy hand down my front. I arched into his touch like a cat being petted. “You feel that? The thrust your body has for my touch?”

I did. And thrust was the perfect word as I felt parched for his hands. 

Nodding, I watched as he leaned in, his face inches from mine. “Your lust for me is insatiable. Just as mine is for you. So you can go to another, but they won’t satisfy. It’s why you’ve been going through men. They never quenched your thirst like I do, your soulmate.”

His hand, that was on my belly, now brushed the wetness off my cheeks, smiling softly down at me. “But… Kagome made you come to me…”

“That’s not how it works.” Naraku again cut off the conversation and I wasn’t even mad, covering me with his body again. 

We were exactly where we were supposed to be.

oOo

Miroku still wore his towel and nothing else. I had put on proper clothes and it had been a fight just to do that. Never had I had a more ridiculous argument than the one I just had over panties, yoga pants, and an oversized t-shirt. Miroku was still pouting about it, sitting on the arm of the couch and watching me pace.

“We have to do something.”

His arms over his chest, I struggled to contain myself. He would be a very nice distraction if I let him be. “There’s nothing we can do. This is between Kagome and Inuyasha.”

“Exactly! Kagome and Inuyasha. Not Kagome, Inuyasha, and Kikyo!”

Miroku scratched the back of his head as if embarrassed, “that will work out quickly enough, I promise.”

“What does that mean?” When he shrugged, I started to get angry. Well… angrier. “And what the hell is going on with all of you and Kagome? Does she control you??”

“Sort of.”

I stopped and stood before him. I wanted to tower over him but even sitting, he was just at my height. At least with my glower, I was a little intimidating and Miroku shrunk a little from me. “You’re going to explain it better than that. Right now.”

He teased everywhere but his mouth. “It’s not like… it’s hard to explain. Kagome is our Master. She brought us here at your insistence. But, we would have met at some point eventually. At least, I think that’s how it works. You’re my soulmate so if not this life then perhaps the next?”

I wanted more on that, but later. “Explain why you do whatever Kagome tells you to do?!”

He shook his head, “that’s not how it works. It’s not everything. It’s only…”

Kagome’s door opened and I sighed in agitation. I was glad she didn’t hear even as she set her phone down on the dining room table. “I called her.”

“Called who?” I bit back my irritation to wait for her answer, I really hoped I was wrong.

“Kagome.”

Now I let it all fly free, “Why the FUCK would you call her??!!”

Jesus. It was her ex all over again, calling and forgiving. Kagome didn’t have to tell me, I know she called and forgave Kikyo the bitch. But I wanted her to say it, admit her dumbass actions to my face. 

“I had to, Sango. It’s not her fault…”

“How the hell do you figure??? She came here and kissed your soulmate moments after you slept with him?!!”

“It’s not as if she knew that.”

“You’re right but Inuyasha did!!”

She shrugged, “we both took advantage of him. But now he’s where he belongs.”

Miroku tried to stop me but I got to Kagome around him, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to face me. “There is a thing as being too forgiving Kagome. Why are you giving up?! Why are you giving up Inuyasha so easily?!”

“He was never mine. He’s where he wants to be and… I want him to be happy.”

Miroku sighed now, “you’re a very considerate Master but Inuyasha is far from happy where he is now.”

Kagome shook a little in my hold. “I didn’t tell him to go or stay. It was all his choice and he made the one he wanted…”

Miroku scrubbed his face with his hand and sighed again. “That’s not how it works….”

“Yeah, you keep fucking saying that but not explaining!!” I yelled.

His eyes danced between the two of us and we were silent, waiting to hear the truth. Miroku took a deep breath to ready himself, “look, the best way I can explain it….”

Someone pounded on the door, nearly breaking it down. “JUDAS PRIEST! LET THE MAN FINISH!!!!”

But my shout was ignored, the front door bursting open before any of us could move to open it. Inuyasha looked winded, panting with his hair all a mess. Kagome was winded too, her breathing picking up. I could feel it as she expelled the cold puffs into my neck. I had her wrapped protectively in my hold again and Inuyasha didn’t try to take her from me at all. He just stood there, staring at Kagome. 

Hands grabbed me, pulling me away and I fought against them only to have them go from gentle to forceful. “Come Sango. We should leave them be now.”

An arm around my waist, he lifted me off my feet and pulled me back. Only to lift me all the way into his arms, carrying me bridal style back to my room. “We can’t just leave her alone with him!!!”

“They want to be alone, trust me. You’re not going to want to see this.”

I struggled in his hold, worried for my friend. “What does that mean?? What’s he going to do to her?!”

Miroku kicked open my door and continued to keep me where he wanted me. “Same thing I’m going to do to you.”

“Could you stop thinking with your dick for a minute??”

He paused, looking over my body as he held it over my bed. “You should have worn different pants then.”

“Miroku this is serious…”

“He’s going to be gentle, I promise. I can’t say the same for you.” He dropped me, leaving me to bounce a few times and a hungry smile spread on his face. “That’s very nice. I like it.”

With his eyes where they were, I had to assume he meant my lack of bra as I bounced. I got up on my hands and he loosened his towel, letting it hang on his erect cock. My mind was struggling to focus, to remember my friend in need just outside my door. Especially when Miroku tossed his towel. 

Something about the shape and size, I really wanted to feel it with my tongue. I could keep an ear open and focused on the living room. It wasn’t soundproof. If things got bad, I would rush out to Kagome. Miroku was right, they did need to talk. I hoped Kagome would give him hell. I was going to give Miroku hell for his caveman ways, carrying me in here like I was his property. 

Had Miroku ever received a blow job? The way he flinched when I scooted to the edge of the bed told me ‘no’. And when I licked up the side of his shaft? His grip on my shoulders was almost painful but it didn’t stop me. The bumps along his shaft felt just as good against my tongue as they did against the walls of my pussy, lapping him along the thick vein. He twitched had when I kissed his tip, barely missing my nose.

Grabbing his hips, I held him still while I took him into my mouth. His hands left my shoulders and went into my hair, grabbing my head hard and trying to move it. I quickly moved them back to my shoulders. I wanted to give him a blow job but I wasn’t about to let him fuck my mouth.

He was a good boy, leaving his hands where I placed them so I went back to work. Miroku groaned loudly when I took him into my throat. He was the largest man I’d ever been with so it was hard to suck on his entire length. 

With a hand around his shaft, I pumped him and sucked on his tip. That had him moaning louder. 

Looking up at him, I could only see the bottom of his chin and jaw. I still watched as it worked, opening and widening with each stroke of my tongue across his slit. Then I grabbed his balls, rolling them around in my palm. That lasted a few seconds, Miroku pushing me back hard so that I fell on the bed. 

“I was going to…”

He ripped my pants and panties down roughly before rolling me onto my belly and grabbing my hips hard. He thrusted in and pumped hard for several seconds, coming inside my womb instead of my mouth.

Still, I was getting agitated, his hard cock inside me, teasing, and while I was soaked from our combined juices. “I was going to finish you with my mouth.”

He was stroking my ass as if to calm me. “I know. But I would never dishonor my Mate like that. Not one so considerate and giving as you.”

“It’s not a big deal. Better than you coming inside me. Safer.”

What did a demon know of human conception? I had my period last week so I knew I was safe for now. But I needed to get the pill for sure now. Monday. I would get it Monday, my refill just sitting at the pharmacy since my last boyfriend left me. 

Miroku leaned into my ear, rolling his hips slightly. “You need to get naked now.”

Turning my head, I pressed my cheek against his. “You need to help me.”

He wasn’t super gentle, ripping my shirt up over my head, but I didn’t care, giggling at his hasty actions. His libido was the worst, I was pretty sure I had created a monster.

oOo

Inuyasha’s eyes were burning me, burning in general as a red fire danced inside them. His ears were twitching back and forth, from flat to upright in a manner that was so adorable, it brought fresh tears to my eyes. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“You shouldn’t have let me leave.”

There was a casnim between us. A distance that was painful just to see. I could still feel him between my legs, a lingering sensation that I blamed on his large cock and tender fingers. And my guilt, having taken advantage of him even if unintentional. 

“I want you to be happy. You deserve that.”

The distance shrunk a little, Inuyasha taking a step closer. “I was happy, blissful until you tossed me to your friend.”

“I didn’t toss you! You kissed her of your own free will! She’s the one you want…”

“You’re the only one I want! I fucking told you that! I told you I wanted you Kagome and then made love to you…”

“And then you came out here and kissed Kikyo!” I turned from him, unable to stand his burning cinders as they singed me. “I tried not to command anything from you, control you but clearly I did anyway. From the beginning I was controlling you, wasn’t I?” Glancing back, I found he hadn’t changed. If anything, he was only angrier but I had no fear, I would never fear Inuyasha. “Go home.”

“I am home.”

I would use my control, one last time, to get him where he belonged. “Go to Kikyo, Inuyasha.”

“No.”

Confused, I spun. Inuyasha was on top of me, heading in the opposite direction from the one I told him to move to. “I said leave!”

“The hell I will!” 

He wrapped his arms around me, lifting me and taking us to the couch. He dropped to it, taking me with him to sit on his lap. Pushing and fighting his grip only caused me to rub against him, finding me split around him, a leg on either side of his hip. 

He smirked up at me now, putting his hands on my ass. “You can’t even help yourself can you?”

I had to settle for my hands on his chest, keeping him from trying to kiss me. “I’m not doing anything! You’re not my Mate, your Kikyo’s! I don’t want to do anything with someone else’s!!!”

“Good thing I’m not hers then, I’m yours.”

A sob erupted from my chest and his smile faltered. “Is this because we already slept together?!”

Growling, his hands left my ass and pushed on my back, breaking the straight hold I had on my arms. I nearly fell face-first into his but he caught the back of my shirt to dangle me above his lips. “Made love. I made love to you. Don’t let the position fool you, it was my dog that wanted it that way. But I made love to you willingly. Because you are my Mate, no one else.”

“I said that to you at some point. I had to of. I made you believe it with my control that you were mine but I was wrong and I’m sorry. I didn’t know I could do that until this afternoon….”

He dropped my shirt and jumped the rest of the way to my mouth. And God help me, I kissed him back. It was wrong, I know, but soulmate or not I loved him. I felt it all the way to my toes, I loved him so much that my body reacted even with it wrong. My arms wrapped around his neck and my thighs widened, letting me slip down closer to him. I hadn’t changed, hadn’t even put on a pair of panties from before. 

Too heartbroken. 

But I regretted it now, my folds pressing to the tent in his pants, the sweatpants he wore not hiding any of his shape from me. A shape I felt like I already had memorized from just our one time together.

It didn’t make any of this right, breaking my mouth from his and trying to getaway. Inuyasha wasn’t allowing it, yanking any good hold I had on something to pull out of his hold away from me and pushing me down each time I rose. After a few futile moments of struggle, I glared back at him. “Let me go!”

Again, he refused me. “No.”

I wasn’t giving up, pushing on him again to get free and he actually laughed at my attempts. “Why aren’t you listening to me!!! I’m your Master and you always do as I say don’t you?!!”

The grin on his face would have melted my panties if I had any on. His nose twitched, sniffing lightly and I cursed the heat between my legs that he caused in me. With his arms knotted around my waist, I had not choice but to sit still on his lap. Especially with him ignoring my commands.

“I’m listening to you but the control of a Master doesn’t work like that. We only do as suggested when it’s in our best interest.” Words failed me. I didn’t understand any of this, shaking my head at him was the best I could do and he chuckled. “You told me to speak? And I did because you wanted me to be free. I didn’t knock the shit out of Naraku because it would’ve have fixed a damn thing. I got off that stage because I was being stupid. I called you Kagome because I wanted to more than anything. Never once did you ask me to want you but I would have if you said the word. Because it was in my best interest to want you, Kagome.”

“Was it in Naraku’s best interest to go back to Kikyo? To give up his freedom and return? I commanded him to do that too and he did. He even froze mid-stride when I commanded it.”

“Naraku is vain but he isn’t a dumbass… well not about everything. He knows Kikyo is his Mate just like I know you’re mine. It was in his best interest to calm the fuck down and go back to her. Where else would he go anyway?”

He did have a point, Naraku knew no one and had no one to turn to. And Miroku… if he wanted to keep Sango, soulmate or not, he needed to listen to her. 

My thoughts on all the things I had commanded, unknowingly and not, scattered when Inuyasha pressed his lips to my neck. A sheltered moan released from my lips without my permission and I quickly bit my lip to keep anything else from popping out. 

“You didn’t tell me to kiss you today.” He spoke against my skin, his lips pursing as he talked to kiss and nip the column of my neck. “You asked me what would make me feel better and kissing you did. And you said nothing about me coming to your bed tonight. All you’ve done is let your fear push us apart.”

His hands slid under my shirt and pressed to my back, slowly working their way up to my shoulders. 

“I should have stripped you our first time.”

Inuyasha was murmuring against my neck now and I was losing control, working my hips against him. I didn’t want to think about what I was doing to his pants right now. “Inuyasha…”

“You don’t have to say a word,” his tongue flicked across my collarbone under my shirt, “if it will help you understand, say nothing. It won’t change a thing, I’m going to make love to you on this couch.”

At that, he pulled his arms up, taking my shirt off with it. Here I was, sitting on Inuyasha’s lap in our living room, naked. With my shirt off, he took his off and I was in a daze looking at his chiseled chest. Sure, I’d seen it before like when we first met. But with me naked and inches from him, feeling the heat of his skin on mine, it was completely different. 

That, and I knew what he was like now as far as sex. 

It was more than that. In a single day, I felt like I knew him. I felt like I always had. Was that part of the spell though? 

Turning, Inuyasha laid me on the couch,keeping my legs spread with his hips. He kept his eyes on mine as he stripped off his pants. Inuyasha wasn’t kidding about sex on the couch. 

“Wait… this isn’t right…”

He fell back to my hands as I put them out to stop him from falling completely on top of me. With his own hands next to my head, holding himself off of me and the couch, I was caged by thick arms that pulsed with muscles. It was enough to make me drool and I wasn’t just talking about from my mouth. 

“I waited years for you, seeing you in my dreams, memorizing your voice and face. Why do you think I went straight for you last night? And now I’ve waited hours after having you to have you again. You’re mine, Kagome.”

The possessive show had my mouth hanging open. I was confused by what he said, dreaming of my face and voice? What did that mean?

It didn’t make sense but it did. Or maybe that was my desire talking, feeling a fevered need like never before.

But that wasn’t what I was talking about. 

“The couch, Yash. I meant it wasn’t right for us to do this on the couch.”

Inuyasha let his head droop with a sigh, his silvery white locks ticing my ears. It made me wonder, glancing between us to peek. Yep, carpet matched the curtains, a white happy trail going all the way down and creating a glowing halo around his dick. This was the first time getting a look at it and it was bigger than I thought. No wonder I still felt ‘stretched’ two hours later.

“You bought this couch, didn’t you?”

I coughed, flustered at Inuyasha catching me looking but also at his unexplained knowledge. “Yes… but that’s not the point, someone could see us.”

“Miroku is going to be keeping Sango busy until dawn. Just like I am you.”

Slowly, he lowered himself until he caught my lips with his. My hands left his plump chest and cupped his face, holding him to me. He lowered the rest of the way, rubbing his shaft against my folds until he was pressed against my clit. I gasped into his mouth but he didn’t let me go, slipping his tongue inside and touching it to mine. 

I felt his tip poke my entrance and waited for him to put himself in. He didn’t need guidance this time, sliding in with one fluid movement of his hips. My body had missed him, greeting him back without hesitation. 

“Your pussy missed me.” He growled and I opened my eyes to look up at him. He was still holding himself above me, watching my every move. “And my cock missed you too.”

“Just your cock?” I teased. 

Blood bloomed across his cheeks but he didn’t break away from our staring contest. “I missed you. Kagome. I waited forever for you and I never want to miss you again.”

“Then don’t kiss other women.”

His mouth was set in a firm line but he sat back, hooked my legs with his arms, and put his hands back next to my head on the couch. The result of which was my feet next to Inuyasha’s head, my ass off the couch with his hips resting on top. 

“Don’t let me walk away again either.”

It didn’t matter that I was trying to do what was best, I had still hurt Inuyasha. It was clear on his face. But we were even, him hurting me by kissing Kikyo and me hurting him for making him think I didn’t want him. 

This was us making up, Inuyasha lifting his hips only to slam them back into me. My entire body was on fire, feeling like I would explode from it any second now. 

The loud pops our bodies made was almost deafening. Surely Miroku and Sango heard it and if they didn’t, the loud moans I couldn’t stop or soften were. 

Suddenly, Inuyasha stopped and sat back again, holding my legs high and spread wide. When it was clear he wanted me to keep them there, and that I would, he took a hand off one leg and pressed his fingers into my clit. “This is what you like, isn’t it?”

A moan stuck in my throat so I nodded. He reared back his hips and slammed into me, holding a leg to keep me steady while he rolled my clit around in his fingers. I was coming. With each slap of his hips, I came a little bit more. My body waited, waited for his cock to hit my dam before releasing a little more ecstasy. 

It was the longest orgasm of my life and it was only halfway done. 

Inuyasha fell back to me and I grabbed onto him tight. Digging my nails into his shoulders, my entire body throbbed as he continued to thrust hard and deep. With his pelvis flush to mine, his body took over for his fingers, allowing him to hold me while I fell to pieces. 

He was coming too, groaning in my ear as he struggled to keep pumping. I was almost done, almost through my orgasm. So I helped him, pressing up into him so he could stay as deep as possible. 

I was a bag of pleasure filled bones when he stopped, just as limp as me. Pulling my fingers through his hair, I waited for him to rally and get up. Even though I really liked his weight on me. 

My finger grazed his ear and I froze. “I’m sorry!”

He shook his head, kissing my neck and shoulder where his face was lodged. “No, don’t stop.”

So I didn’t, slowly rubbing up the fuzzy corner of his ear to the tip and going back down. It was so soft and warm, I loved them. “Will our kids have them?”

The sex was making me stupid, talking about things in the distant future if Inuyasha even wanted children. Or even wanted them with me. 

He was staring at me now and it only made it worse, wishing I could turn invisible or melt. There was a shine to his eyes that made me feel a little bit better. It was accompanied by his smile. “What do you think?”

“What do I… think?”

“About our kids. What do you think?”

He was smirking and it gave me some courage. “I hope… I hope they have your ears. And your eyes.”

“I want them to be all you.” He nuzzled my nose as he spoke and my cheeks burned even more. “My Mate is beautiful and kind.” He paused to brush his lips against mine then spoke against my mouth. “I’m going to pup you up soon at this rate, Kagome.”

“I.. I should.. go on the pill.” He cocked his head to the side. “Birth control. It keeps you from having kids before you’re ready.”

He shrugged, “are we not ready?”

“We just met.”

“Did we?”

Inuyasha was already kissing me again, causing me to wiggle my hips from the intensity of it. With us already moving together, it seemed moot but I still caught enough breath to say “take me to bed, lover” when I got my mouth free. 

That was why he lifted us off the couch and bounced me on him the whole way to my room.

[fangirl-1523]

My Sworn Brothers [Luffy x Crossover!Sister!Reader x Ace x Sabo]

A/N: Hey, so I want to write a High School AU of the many, many anime I have watched/ read. Bleach, Blue Exorcist, Devil is a Part-Timer, Durarara, Fairy Tail, Fullmetal Alchemist, High School of the Dead, InuYasha, Kill La Kill, Magi, My Hero Academia, Noragami, One Piece, Ouran High School Host Club, Pokemon, Saiki K, Sailor Moon, Seven Deadly Sins, Soul Eater, Sword Art Online, Vampire Knight, Your Lie in April, and Yu Gi-Oh. And I was wondering who would you like to be apart of your friend? And would you like to have a relation to any of the characters of the world. 

Summary: [Y/N] is the oldest sworn sister to Luffy, Ace, and Sabo. And after finding Ace and Sabo aboard Luffy’s ship, the Thousand Sunny, she explains to them who she is, her other sworn brothers and sisters, embarrasses the three of them (a regular Tuesday for her), and threatens them with a chalkboard for interrupting her. Multiple times. In this story, most of the anime I am into is in the same world (Bleach, Blue Exorcist, Fairy Tail, Fullmetal Alchemist, InuYasha, Magi, My Hero Academia, Naruto, Noragami, Seven Deadly Sins, and Sword Art Online.  I might do a part 2. 

Warnings: spoilers for the above mangas and animes, also, even though this is along the timeline of after the time skip (at some point), I took the creative liberty to have Ace alive during this meeting for a quad family reunion, might be language

Word Count: 1, 668

“How the hell am I suppose to believe that my three idiotic brothers would be in the same place at the exact same time I’m trying to find them?” the girl with [H/C] hair, old enough to be Luffy’s age, maybe a year younger or a year older than him. 

“[Y/N]!!” the rubber boy flung himself at her in a hug.

She fell down on her butt from the impact of the hug. She groaned before pushing the boy off of her and standing up, dusting herself off. “Geez, Lu. I was on a job, just finished, and I heard something about a Straw Hat, a Fire Fist, and a blonde with a top hat that put the mad hatter to shame. I just came to see if the rumors are true.” 

“What job did you have, sis?” Sabo said as he sipped a smoothie created from Vinsmoke Sanji. 

“Well, you see. In the ten years I’ve been gone, I’ve been busy. Both with being lazy and being diligent.” the girl explained. “I am a member of Fairy Tail. Dragon Slayer Magic, particularly fire, water, earth, air, and plant. Requip the Knight. Some space jumping there and vortex opening here.” 

“You got the two mixed up, kid.” Ace said from his spot next to Sabo. 

The girl grinned an evil grin. “Oh, did I, Ace of Clubs?” 

The raven haired pirate groaned at the nickname while Luffy’s crew members wondered after the nickname. Ace kept giving her the don’t-tell-them-anything look with a cut-it-out motion. She, like most people she knew, did not listen to reason. 

“Well, when we were younger, I attempted to teach the pour unfortunate souls that you call Luffy, Sabo, and Ace golf. And we played mini-gold. First hole we went to, the club flew out of Ace’s hand and crashed into the window where the pour lady working the club stand was clonked on the head and fell unconscious. Another fun fact: I’m overly competitive and therefore master of mini gold. Luffy on the other hand... beat my bowling high score of just a little over four hundred points.” [Y/N] explained. 

“THAT’S NOT HOW YOU PLAY GOLF, YOU IDIOT!” Usopp shouted at his captain. 

“Ace was a lot worse. However, on the eighteenth hole, got a hole in one. Although with team sports, I always sided with Luffy ‘cuz he was the baby of the family.” she explained. 

“Never play Volleyball with her unless you’re Luffy.” Sabo warned the Straw Hat Pirates. 

“Could you... possibly.... explain who you are?” asked Nami. 

“That’s an easy and excellent question, m’lady. I am [Y/N] [L/N], the daughter of the Demon King from the Demon Clan, Niece of Solomon, adoptive daughter of the great dragon, The Curse of Depravity, a mage of S-Class ranking, the best older sister anyone can have, a Shinigami, and the Pirate Fairy.” [Y/N] said with her hands on her hips like wonder woman. 

“You’re not wonder woman, dumbass.” Ace muttered. 

She scowled at the boy (who was now physically older than her). “I know that, asshole.” Ace shrugged his shoulders at that. “Anyways, I should get going. I’m here with my teammates. And Salamander will have a cow if he finds out I’m on a Pirate Ship. Which may or may not include Natsu asking you all to fight him at once for his sister.” [Y/N] shrugged. 

“SISTER?!” Luffy screeched. 

“YOU ALREADY REPLACED US?!” Ace and Sabo said in unison. 

“This is why I never took you to Amusement parks or sat next to you on a ride.” she clenched at her swollen ears.  “No, I was merely saying that I have something called [Y/N]’s Council of Brothers. They’re basically a band of boys I feel need my protection, wisdom, and power to embarrass them until they’re six feet under and rotting.” 

“She’s dark.” Nami said. “But can you explain this whole Council of Brothers thing. Because I’m not sure they,” the ginger pointed to the three brothers, “understand.” 

“Alright! I will go over a lesson here!” and suddenly a white board appeared by her side with writing already on it. 

“Where did you get the white board?” asked Luffy. 

“That’s not important right now.” she scowled. “Yes, Sabo.” 

“Was that Whiteboard always there and we just never noticed it?” the blonde asked. 

“No. Ace if this is a question about the white board, I will smack you with the same gold club that flew through that window. All questions about the stupid whiteboard will be answered after I explained everything. Got it?” 

The three brothers grumbled out a, “Yes.”  

“Good. Anyways, to start it off I have two half-brothers. Meliodas and Zeldris.” she slapped a pointer stick against the whiteboard. 

“Did she always have that?” Ace asked, whispering it to his two brothers. 

“I don’t know. I’m just glad someone noticed it besides me.” Sabo murmured back. 

“SILENCE, YOU INSOLENCE FOOLS!” and she threw a frying pan which hit Ace in the head. 

Why does she have a frying pan in her requips? Sabo wondered in his head, not wanting to get hit in the head with anything else she might have to throw at them. 

“Anyways, Meliodas and Zeldris are my half-brothers. Zeldris is the captain of the Demon Clan’s ten Commandments while Meliodas is the captain of Liones’s Seven Deadly Sins of which I am co-captain and the Phoenix Sin of Darkness. To be fair, I look more like my mother and I think the only thing me, Meliodas, and Zeldris share is our dumbassery we inherited from our father. Second off, my cousin is Magi Aladdin since my mother is his father, Solomon,’s sister. Now, that’s enough of my actual biological family. Now, I won’t go into detail about those three. Because you already seem well-acquainted with one another. Anyways, onto the next one. The next one on my list of brothers is a half-demon named Rin who is the son of Satan along with his younger brother, Yukio, but he doesn’t really need protection. next is Kazuto Kirigaya also known as Kirito. I prefer to call him that. He got stuck in a game where if you die there, you die in real life, but he defeated them. next, we have Satan himself, a king of demons, Sadou Maou. He works as a part-timer for a fast food chain which is sad to be honest. Next, we have Alibaba Saluja, a prince and a king’s candidate, also my cousin’s best friend. He wields the fire djinn, Amon. Also, he’s trying to be a gladiator while figuring out his feelings for Fanalis and former slave Morgiana. Next, we have actual God Yato who is a former god of calamity and a current god of war. I think. I’m not quite sure. But he and his two regalia, Yukine and a Nora named Kazuma, but also Kazune under Yato, must be protected by me at all cost. Then, we have Edward Elric, a alchemist missing both a leg and an arm because he wanted to see his mom’s smile again which kicks me in the heartstrings whenever I hear it. His brother, Alphonse, is an honorary member of the Council of Brothers. And he used to be entirely a soul attached to a suit of armor. No joke.” 

“Does no one else notice that they are mostly raven haired or blonde?” Nico Robin commented. 

The Straw Hat Pirates turned to the three sworn brothers who just shrugged their shoulders at that. “I admit I am guilty for that. But my actual brothers are raven headed and blonde, so that may be the reason. Anyways, off to the next people. Now, this person could make Luffy look like a genius. Sometimes. Natsu Dragneel, a salmon haired fire dragon slayer, is the brother of Zeref Dragneel, the black wizard, and also simultaneously END, the most powerful demon of the book of zeref which makes him one of the top fifteen most powerful demons. Next, we have strawberry boi, Ichigo Kurosaki, a shinigami who I’ve been helping train. He could see the dead and then he discovered his spiritual power, stole the shinigami powers of Rukia Kuchiki, and started to exorcist hollows and send souls to the soul society. Then, we have my favorite band of brothers since they could literally be in a band. Broccoli Boi, Izuku Midoriya, kinda has a power augmentation quirk, best way to describe it without giving too much away, Porcupine Katsuki Bakugo who can blow things up with help from his sweat. Zuko Wannabe Shoto Todoroki who can wield fire and ice. Also, his brother Touya may or may not be Dabi. Then, Pikachu Kaminari Denki who can utilize elctricity, but too much and he makes Luffy look like a genius. No joke. Well… maybe… I don’t really know. Anyways, then we have speedster Tenya Iida. Oh, there’s sharkboy Eijiro Kirishima. He can make himself go as hard as rock, but he has limitations. Then, we have spidertape Hanta Sero that can shoot tape out of his elbows. Then, half-demon InuYAsha who is the son of a dog demon and a mortal woman. There’s also Shippo who is an adorable little kitsune. And I think I got everyone.” the girl looked at her board before smacking it again as she noticed Luffy had begun to doze off while Ace had totally fallen asleep. 

The action alerted the two boys to wake up at once and glare at their older sister. And then, a silver haired undead man with a flying blue cat landed on the floor of the ship. “Thank goodness we found you. C’mon. We got a mission and you and your ‘Team Natsu’ have a job request from the old man and a princess.” 

“So Hisui and Bartra both agree to have us do something, but what is this so-called mission?” asked [Y/N]. 

Ban smirked. “We’re fighting slave-trading pirates.” 

“I want in!” Luffy cheered.

[sapphirestarxx]

Through the Night

Chapter 12

Also posted on my AO3!

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~☆~

Inuyasha stared at the phone in his hand with utter distaste. It wasn’t the phone’s fault; he understood the necessity and convenience of them in this modern world. It wasn’t even because he disliked phones in general, although Kagome had been working on warming him up to the idea of getting his own. She claimed he needed one in the event she had to get a hold of him and he argued that that was ridiculous because he was always near her side anyway. 

“That won’t always be the case.” She had replied. “I love you, but I do have a life outside of you. Once Tsubaki is taken care of things will go back to normal, and there will be times when we each have our own separate responsibilities to take care of. If we’re going to be together and make a life together, you have to make yourself a part of this modern world, because I am a part of it, too.”

He didn’t like it but there wasn’t much he could say to refute that, because she was right. And he would do anything for her if it meant he got to keep her in his life--to be able to call her his. He had agreed to get one, and make other necessary steps, once everything with Tsubaki was done.

No, Inuyasha’s aversion to the phone was not the phone itself. It was because of who he was about to call. At Kagome’s urging, he had grudgingly agreed to call his bastard of a brother to ask him about any attacks against youkai that were similar to those of the attacks on spiritualists and to see if he knew anything else of note. After what Kaede had told them about Tsubaki  needing massive amounts of both reiki and youki for her dark spell...well, if anyone would know about something happening to demons it would be the Lord of the West. Inuyasha dialed the number and waited as it rang. Fuck, he hated talking to his brother.

“Hello?” A low feminine voice answered. His brother’s mate had picked up the phone.

“Hey, Kagura.” Inuyasha returned and he heard her take a breath of surprise on the other end of the line then let out a soft chuckle. 

“Inuyasha? Well, well, well. Haven’t heard from you in a long time. It’s been-- what? Twenty years?”

“It would be even longer if I had any say in the matter but unfortunately I need to speak to that dick you call your mate.”

“Right.” Kagura drawled. “You two and your bickering. Doesn’t it ever get old?”

“He’s the one who talks down to me and insults me every fucking chance he gets.” Inuyasha snapped.

“And you rise to the bait every time.” Kagura responded dryly. Inuyasha could practically hear her eye-roll through the phone. “What is it about you brothers that makes you seem to bring out the worst in each other? Still, I’ll admit Sesshomaru is the instigator at least half the time. He isn’t always easy to deal with.”

“I don’t know how you deal with him at all.”

“He’s my mate. While he does have a tendency to act like a condescending ass at times, I’m always quick to remind him of who he’s dealing with, and I know he can find me just as maddening. Of course, he’s never been as unreasonable with me as he is with you.” Kagura answered, amused. “But you didn’t call to ask about my mateship with your brother.”

“No offense, but I’d rather puke blood than hear about you being all lovey-dovey with that jackass.”

Kagura laughed. “I always did like you, Inuyasha. You know I’ve never had anything against you personally.”

“I know. Anyways, I need to speak to him. Is he around?”

“He just got off a conference call; I’ll hand you off.”

“Thanks.” Inuyasha grunted.

“To what do I owe the honor of this call, little brother?” Sesshomaru’s deep, stoic voice asked. It was obvious from his tone that he considered it anything but an honor.

“Hey. I got a couple questions to ask ya.”

“And what might they be?” Sesshomaru sounded bored and Inuyasha resisted the urge to snarl.

“Have there been any attacks against demons lately, with a rune left behind at the scene? And I’m not talkin’ about evil demons. I mean those with powerful auras, who mind their own business around humans, being left in comas with their youki sucked dry.”

There was a long pause and Inuyasha almost began to wonder if his asshat of a brother had simply hung up on him when Sesshomaru spoke again. This time there was no boredom in his voice. His tones were urgent, almost hushed; Inuyasha had gotten his attention.

“How did you come upon this information?”

“Is that a yes?”

“Is it not obvious from my reaction to your words? Tell me what you know.” Sesshomaru ordered imperiously. Suppressing the impulse to tell his brother to go fuck himself, Inuyasha recounted everything they had discovered to him. Everything from the runes, the stolen book of black magic, all their battles, Tsubaki’s involvement behind it all, and their recent discoveries regarding her master plan. Sesshomaru listened without interruption and when he was done the daiyoukai was silent for a long moment.

“This is not good.”

“No, it’s not.” Inuyasha said, agreeing with his brother for one of the first times in both their lives.

“Hn.”

“Alright, I told you what I know; now it’s your turn.”

“Very well.” Sesshomaru’s voice sounded put upon. “About two months ago reports began surfacing of attacks on demons and they were as you described-- drained of their youki and left in comas. There was a mark left behind at each one. If what you say is true, then their souls have also been taken.”

“It’s true.”

“Hn.” Sesshomaru acknowledged. “I remember this Naraku of which you speak.”

“You gonna elaborate on that?” Inuyasha prodded when he fell silent again. His brother had never been the talkative type. Getting anything out of him was like pulling teeth, and this was probably the most forthcoming he had ever been with Inuyasha.

“He thought himself far above his station and was overly ambitious, although he was indeed very powerful for a half breed.” Sesshomaru’s voice dripped contempt at the insulting term and Inuyasha gritted his teeth. “After joining with that dark priestess he became a menace, causing countless problems and gaining influence among those demons who were not content with their place in life. He attempted to form a rebellion against my rule over the youkai of Japan. Many of my allies were attacked.”

“They why the fuck didn’t you do anything?” Inuyasha demanded. “You’re the fucking Lord of the West. Or did you just not care??”

“Mind your tone, little brother.” Sesshomaru clipped out. “Do not think to cast judgement on what you know nothing about. Your ignorance is showing.”

“Keh, whatever. So while you were sittin’ on your ass some priestess took him down instead.”

Sesshomaru growled a warning through the phone and Inuyasha gave a smug grin. It was petty but he felt a little victorious at having gotten a rise out of him.

“This one had been carefully taking steps to end Naraku. It was fifty years ago, not the feudal era where demons fought with abandon, giving no thought as to the consequences of their battles or of human discovery. This one realizes subtly is not your strength, but surely even you have to realize what a terrible idea it would have been for us to fight to the death in the middle of Tokyo.”

“Demonkind would have been exposed.” Inuyasha grudgingly admitted his brother was right. If they had gone all out there would have been no covering that up. Still, that smug sense of satisfaction only increased; Sesshomaru only fell back into his old habit of referring to himself in the third person when he was truly irate.

“Exactly so.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t know about all the attacks against spiritualists before now. Did you know about Tsubaki’s involvement in all of this?” Inuyasha asked.

“There have been rumors regarding the spiritualists, but this one knew nothing for certain. Regarding Tsubaki-- no. This one was not aware of the connection between her and the attacks until your call.” Sesshomaru paused, and his next words were strained, as if he had to force himself to speak them. “This one owes you thanks. Your information has been surprisingly useful.”

It was a backhanded compliment but it was still a great concession for the daiyoukai. Inuyasha was surprised to say the least.

“Don’t mention it.”

“Tsubaki must not be allowed to succeed with her plan. Take care of it.”

Inuyasha bristled at the way his brother had just basically ordered him to do what he was already doing anyways. 

“You don’t get to fucking order me around.” Inuyasha snapped back. “And besides what’s stoppin’ you, huh? Maybe you should get off your ass for a change and do something.”

“Don’t be foolish. She is a dark priestess, not a demon, and therefore not of my concern.”

“And what about all those demons on her side, helping her? Or are they not your problem either?”

“Inuyasha, were you and your companions not already pursuing her?” Sesshomaru’s voice betrayed his impatience.

“Yeah, but--”

“Then this one fails to see the issue.”

“Some help you were.” Inuyasha all but snarled.

“Surely even a half breed like you can handle this task. She is one woman.”

“One woman with an arsenal of black magic who probably has a fucking army to send after us!” Inuyasha returned. “What do you think happened to all those evil demons and spirits on their side after Naraku was purified? You think they just went away? She’s been sending these fuckers after us since day one. At first it was just the small fry but now she’s been upping her game and having the stronger ones attack us.”

“If she indeed has an army, Kagura and I will lend our assistance at that battle. But until that is the case this fight is left to you and your companions. We will not accompany you on some wild goose chase across the city while you pick off her allies one by one.”

“Fine!” Inuyasha growled, hanging up the phone. He had learned basically nothing from that whole exchange, only confirmation of what they had already suspected. The only good news (if you could call it that) was that if things got really bad they could rely on Sesshomaru and Kagura’s help. And “really bad” meant facing an actual army they had to fight through to get to Tsubaki and stop her. But barring that they were on their own.

Placing the phone back on its cradle and making a conscious effort not to slam it down, Inuyasha made his way back up the stairs to Kagome’s room. There wasn’t much to tell, but he had promised to let her know how it went and what his brother had said.

~☆~

While Inuyasha had been calling his brother Kagome had been on the phone having her own conversation with Sango. She had called to demand that Sango give her all the details of having sex with Miroku, and Sango had hissed at her to lower her voice. That was probably because Miroku had been sitting right next to her when she had answered the phone if the masculine laughter Kagome heard in the background following her words was any indication. Telling Miroku she was going to have a private conversation with her best friend and to shut the hell up, Kagome heard Sango excuse herself to the bedroom and shut the door. Then, in a hushed voice, Sango had told her all about it. It all sounded like such a romantic yet incredibly erotic and pleasurable experience. When she was done Kagome had sighed almost dreamily.

“Wow. That sounds...amazing. I’m kind of jealous. Inuyasha refuses to mate with me until after we take down Tsubaki.” She told Sango, her tone wistful. 

“It must be hard having to wait when you love him so much.” Sango sympathized. Then a thought occurred to her. “Is it just intercourse he refuses to do, or anything at all?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if it’s just the actual sex itself that he’s putting off because it triggers the mating instinct...Kagome, you know there are other things you can do without going all the way, right?”

Kagome froze at that revelation and wondered why she hadn’t thought of that. It seemed so...obvious.

“You...you’re absolutely right.”

“While demons typically don’t do anything sexual unless they are reproducing or reaffirming a mate bond...Inuyasha is half human, too.”

“I don’t want to put pressure on the demonic part of him if that’s the case, though…” Kagome hedged.

“Then talk to him about it...if your heart can handle it.”

“You’re so evil sometimes. Now that you’ve brought it up it’s all I can think about!”

Sango laughed and wished her luck then hung up the phone. A few minutes later Inuyasha walked in through her bedroom door and Kagome jumped up from her bed, slightly startled. He stopped at her abrupt reaction to his entrance.

“Uh, you okay?”

“Y-yeah. How did the call with your brother go?”

His face darkened a bit as he related the gist of the conversation to her. Closing the door behind him, he walked across the room to lean against the window as he talked and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Hmm. It doesn’t sound like he knows too much more than we do. What you said about Tsubaki having an army, though...that didn’t even occur to me before but it makes sense. She’s always sending others to fight her battles for her. Assuming we manage to corner her I can’t see her taking us on all by herself. No matter how powerful she is.” Kagome mused.

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Well, at least if we really are facing an army we can count on his help.”

“I wouldn’t hold my breath for that.” Inuyasha said, then his golden eyes turned shrewd as he stared at her. “You wanna explain why you were smelling of arousal when I walked in?”

Kagome blushed and she sputtered for a moment, mumbling something about how unfair it was he could seem to smell everything about her.

“Can’t help it. Dog demon, remember? Now what’s goin’ on?”

“Uhm, I-- I was thinking and-- uhm, well…” Kagome stuttered out, suddenly shy for some reason. “You said you won’t mate with me until Tsubaki is defeated. Does-- does that mean we can’t do anything or just, well, just the-- the sex itself?”

“What are you tryin’ to say?” Inuyasha asked, a corner of his mouth kicking up and exposing the tip of a fang.

“If it’s just actual s-sex that activates the mating instinct, well...there’s other things we could do without going all the way. If-- if it’s not too hard on your demonic half...since you’re half human I thought...” Kagome answered in a barely audible voice, her face red. 

“Oh, yeah? What kind of things?” Inuyasha drew the question out. He was full on smirking now and Kagome’s pulse raced. He had to know what she was talking about; why was he teasing her like this? Saying she wanted to mate with him was one thing, but talking about the particulars of sexual favors was too much for her virgin heart to take.

“Well, Kagome? Aren’t ya gonna tell me?” Inuyasha slowly uncrossed his arms and straightened, taking a step towards her, his amber eyes glowing. Heat shot straight through her and her body felt flushed.

“Uhm...y-you know what…I mean...”

“I wanna hear you say it.”

“N-never mind! Forget it!!” Kagome yelled, too embarrassed. Why had she said anything?? She whirled blindly towards the door, needing to escape the situation she had created, but suddenly Inuyasha was there in front of her. He grasped her around the waist, holding her to him and looking down into her eyes.

“You can’t bring somethin’ like that up then just tell me to forget it.” Inuyasha told her, his voice rough with desire. Kagome shivered at the sound and swallowed.

“I...I can’t say it. It’s too embarrassing.” She mumbled, blushing madly and staring resolutely at his chest, unable to maintain the intense eye contact. 

“I know what you mean. I didn’t mean to tease ya, but I just couldn’t resist. And to be honest, I’m dying to, but I’m still worried I’ll get too carried away once I start touchin’ you.” Inuyasha admitted.

“If you do I’ll tell you to stop. I know you won’t do anything to me without my consent.”

Inuyasha had no idea why she seemed to have so much faith in him. Every time he touched her, every time she let out that breathy sigh of pleasure from his kisses, every time he smelled the siren call of her arousal...it was all he could do not to rip off all her clothes and take her right then and there. To sink his fangs into the place her shoulder met her neck and mark her as his forever. Still, he considered her words and realized she was probably right. Not even his demonic half-- the baser part of him-- would force anything on her, not if she was telling him no. No matter how strongly it demanded he give in to his instincts, she was his mate and that meant his demonic half would listen to her wants; it desired her acceptance of him, to make her happy. Taking her by force would go against all of that. 

Still, despite her insistence, he didn’t think she was entirely aware of everything she was asking for him to do. Imagining things and building them up in her head like she had clearly been doing was totally different from actually experiencing it. The kinds of things she was asking for were on a completely different level from the kissing and touching they had been doing since admitting their feelings for each other. She was so pure and earnest that of course she would want to dive in headfirst, but this was all so new to her. Hell, it was new to him too, but he had a lot more years on his side. Knowledge he’d acquired by chance, and not necessarily voluntarily. 

“So you’re saying you want me to touch you like this?” He asked in a low voice as he trailed a hand up her thigh, slipping under her skirt until he reached the juncture of her thighs. She stiffened as her breathing quickened. He stopped the motion of his hand and after a moment withdrew it, giving her forehead a kiss. 

“You’re way too tense to be ready for somethin’ like this.” 

Kagome cringed at her involuntary reaction, trying to will herself to relax. She wanted so badly to feel him touch her intimately, wanted to solidify their bond. Of course they wouldn’t go all the way, waiting to make their mateship official until after Tsubaki had been taken down, but being intimate in other ways would go hand in hand for when they finally did. However, up until a week ago she had never really even kissed a guy, let alone felt one touch her in the ways she was asking for. When Inuyasha kissed her it was unlike anything she had imagined, and when he ran his hands over her body she wanted to melt, but that was child’s play compared to the way he had been about to touch her. She craved it but a small part of her was still trying to adjust to the reality of it.

“I-I’m sorry, I really do want this, I promise. I’m just...nervous.” Kagome insisted, biting her lip.

“Exactly. You’re way too nervous. And there aint anything wrong with that. We don’t have to rush anything here.”

“But I want it! I...I want to deepen our relationship. I know we can’t mate, not yet, but I want that feeling of closeness and intimacy. I just...I’m just not used to it. I’ve never been with anyone before so I...I just…” 

“Kagome, I’m not going to demand anything of you. I know you want this, but I also know what your body is telling me, and it’s saying you’re not ready for anything more just yet. Maybe tomorrow, maybe two weeks from now. But it aint today. Let’s be clear; this is all kinda new to me too. Demons don’t just go around fucking everything in sight. Not usually anyway. I’m not trying to rush this. This is it; you’re it.”

He was right, of course. Right now she was definitely too tense. It wasn’t the right moment. She brought her arms up and wrapped them around him while burying her face in his chest as he gently nuzzled the top of her head with his cheek.

“And by the way, I aint sayin’ no to what you were askin’ for. Now just isn’t the right time.”

“Good. And now that you’ve said it, I’m not letting you back out of it.”

He pulled away from her enough to cup her cheek and raise her face to his before lowering his lips to hers. They kissed, lips moving against each other and it was sweet and tender and full of everything they felt for each other.

~☆~

Sango spent the day with Miroku, and wondered if it was wrong to feel such happiness when things were so dire. The situation they were in, all the things they still didn’t know, the consequences should they fail...it was sobering but it didn’t diminish the peace in her heart that being with Miroku had given her. She wondered if Kagome was having a similar internal struggle, and then was curious if Kagome had taken her advice on pursuing...other ways of being physical with Inuyasha.

When Sango had told her best friend all about being intimate with Miroku she could tell how badly Kagome wanted the same experience with Inuyasha. She had to give him credit for thinking about the possible consequences to Kagome first, knowing that the demonic instinct to mate was all but overwhelming. The pull might not be as uncontrollable for him because he was only a half demon but it had to be difficult to suppress, regardless.

After getting off the phone with Kagome her body was flushed from the memories that she had just relived. Exiting the bedroom, she silently walked back to the living room where Miroku was and he gave her a knowing, heated look. He was fully aware of what she had just been talking about. She blushed, wanting to tell him to stop smirking at her, to get his mind out of the gutter. The problem was that's exactly where her mind had gone too. Sitting close, she reached for him and he kissed her as she pressed herself into him. He gave her what she was wordlessly asking for and ended up taking her right there on the couch. Afterwards he gave her a very satisfied smile before flipping their positions, holding her against his chest. As they laid there together Sango’s mind drifted and Miroku gently stroked her hair.

“Pretty sure you were loud enough that every neighbor on this floor heard you.” He remarked in a teasing voice after a few moments.

“Shut up.” Sango smacked his chest hard, and he grunted but otherwise didn’t seem to care. In fact he even chuckled a bit at her reaction, no doubt finding it cute.

“I would have figured you were the quiet type, but it seems you’re actually quite vocal.”

“I-I’m not! Well, that is, I mean to say, I wasn’t ever loud, not before when it was just m-me...But for some reason w-when you touch me I can’t seem to hold back.” Sango confessed, blushing and refusing to look at him to see his reaction. He had to be feeling rather proud at that admission.

“Hmm. Is that so? That does make me feel rather accomplished. But I have a confession to make, too.” He said, and although there was a hint of smug satisfaction in his voice there was something a little more serious, too.

“What?”

“You’re the only woman who’s ever been able to drive me as wild as you do. Make me make the sounds that I do.”

Sango raised her head from his chest to look at him and he met her eyes steadily, giving her a soft smile.

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Of course, you’re also the only woman I’ve ever been in love with, so I’m sure that plays a role.” He continued and warmth bloomed in her chest as her heart pounded.

“You’ve really never loved anyone else?”

“Only you, Sango.”

She knew she should just accept those beautiful, heartfelt words and cherish the moment but something compelled her to keep pressing.

“If you’ve never been in love before then how do you know you love me?”

“Because it’s the only word that could possibly describe what I feel for you.”

Sango wasn’t really the emotional type but she found herself getting misty-eyed at his honest and rather romantic words. Oh God, was she really going to start crying like some high school girl? No, no, no. With an effort she tried to compose herself.

“Why are you so perfect?” She hadn’t realized she said the words until they had left her mouth.

“So that I could be worthy of a goddess such as yourself.” Miroku replied easily, still giving her that soft smile.

Sango managed to not cry and returned his smile as she rolled her eyes at the cheesy line before leaning in to kiss him. He readily welcomed her lips upon his and kissed her long and slow, and she nibbled his lip between her teeth gently before they pulled apart. She stared at him for a moment then spoke.

“I love you, too.”

~☆~

A few hours later they both prepared to make their way to the Higurashi Shrine for the location ritual Miroku was going to help Kagome perform. Sango was dressed in her slayer gear and Miroku packed a white kosode to change into for when it came time. It had been a long time since he had practiced any kind of ceremonial rites but as a monk he had done plenty before. It would be his first time performing one with a priestess and combining the power between the two of them, however.

Kagome had already gone over the particulars with him yesterday on the drive from the Shikon Shrine back to Tokyo but they both felt it was a good idea to review it once more before actually performing it. There were other preparations to be made too, such as cleansing baths, individual prayers, and the drawing of a rune upon both of their chests, over the heart. The rune was not a black mark like the ones Tsubaki had been using to absorb the souls and powers of her victims, nor was it to amplify dark feelings to fuel darker magics. This one was pure, and would serve to guard against Tsubaki getting a read on their magical signatures, masking it and rendering them effectively invisible to her mind’s eye. In the event that failed it would change their presence to something different than what it truly was so that she couldn’t latch onto it and trace it back to them. 

That was the hope, anyways. In the event Tsubaki made it past all their protections again Kagome had Miroku with her this time and between her power and his, she felt confident they could handle anything the dark priestess threw at them. Not to mention they had Inuyasha and Sango to watch over them. It would be fine.

Once it was time and all the preparations had been made all four of them walked to the building with the purification pool they would use for the ritual. Kagome and Miroku had already changed, each dressed in their white kosode, with heavier robes draped over their shoulders to protect them from the bite of cold in the air. The rune they had both drawn upon themselves with a special ink was hidden beneath all the layers, resting over their hearts. 

Entering the small building Inuyasha and Sango took up positions against the wall while Kagome and Miroku lit the incense braziers and removed their outer robes, setting them aside. The both stepped into the water and stood facing each other before looking into each other’s eyes and taking hold of each other’s hands. Power flowed between them and Miroku shielded their minds while Kagome worked on reforming the tenuous connection they both possessed with Tsubaki that had been left behind by her telepathic presence. Once that had been established they could perform the ritual itself and this time would be different; Kagome would not make the same mistakes she had last time.

Inuyasha watched, feeling the immense amount of reiki accumulating between the two of them. There was nothing romantic about what they were doing; logically he knew that. Still, the sight of his mate standing in front of another man in nothing but a thin robe, holding his hands and looking into his eyes...his inner demon was snarling. Especially at the memory of the last time they had been in here, her kosode soaked and transparent, baring everything to his eyes. He hadn’t realized he was beginning to growl out loud until Kagome spoke.

“Inuyasha, it’s hard to focus with you growling.” Kagome said, her voice a quiet admonishment.

“The demon part of me isn’t exactly thrilled at the sight of you holding hands with that pervert, wearing practically nothing.” He groused. He knew Miroku wasn’t interested in Kagome in that way but it didn’t seem to matter to his demon half. After the moment he and Kagome had shared earlier, her confessions of intimacy, combined with the mate bond still waiting to be established and his claim made...his instincts wouldn’t subside. They were still screaming that she was his and to mark her, and screw anyone else who tried to touch her. 

Sango gave him a sidelong glance, keeping her comments to herself. If she wasn’t so sure about Miroku’s feelings for her, if she still thought he was just a flirt trying to hit on any attractive woman, then maybe she might have been a little worried. But that wasn’t the case. It was clear it was strictly platonic and all about the ritual. She almost rolled her eyes at Inuyasha’s reaction. Talk about possessive.

“Inuyasha…” Miroku sighed. “Trust me, I would much rather be in here with Sango, holding her hands and looking deeply into her beautiful eyes instead. As lovely as Kagome is, I have absolutely zero interest in her as a woman. No offense.” 

“None taken.” Kagome smiled.

“Yeah, I fucking know. I never said it was rational.” Inuyasha snapped, but he made a conscious effort to keep himself under control. 

Once his snarling had stopped they resumed their efforts, until their powers had risen, awaiting direction. The air was charged with the sheer amount they had built up between the two of them. Dropping each other’s hands they quietly chanted the necessary incantations while performing the accompanying movements that helped to center and focus their minds and powers. Keeping their objective of finding Tsubaki at the forefront of their thoughts as they moved and holding onto that dark connection she had left behind in their minds, the power they had called forth responded. It swirled before grabbing hold of their intentions, now knowing what to search for.

Finishing the ritual they each closed their eyes and breathed deep, the lotus and sandalwood incense burning in the braziers working to calm and settle their minds. They ran their hands through the water, performing more ceremonial movements before grabbing hold of each other’s hands again, eyes still closed. Slowly, they reached a meditative state where they drifted, their physical contact helping to anchor their spirits to each other as, finally, a connection was made.

Images came to them-- a large estate; a patch of woods; an ornate marble fountain in front of the mansion-like house filled with dead leaves, water no longer flowing from the sculpture stretching high at the center; tall blood-red doors; a front gate overgrown with Japanese ivy; and finally, a placard with the address. The visions continued, taking them inside the house. A large entryway overlooked by a balcony with a split staircase leading up to the second story; a chandelier hanging from the ceiling dripping with crystals; a room with a mahogany desk, heavy black velvet curtains preventing any light from finding its way in; a close up of the pages of a book detailing a forbidden ritual to resurrect a half demon, the edges yellowed with age. 

Abruptly the images cut off, and Kagome reeled for a moment, fearing the connection had been severed. But that wasn’t the case as she felt their power still linked to...something. Or someone as it turned out. When it refocused they could see the image of a woman. Her face was beautiful, with a youthfulness that belied the gray of her long hair. There was a sharpness to her features that was softened slightly by her large green eyes. Eyes that seemed to be staring directly at them.

“You again.” Tsubaki spat the words into both of their minds, contempt dripping from every one. “And it looks like you brought a friend. Didn’t you learn your lesson last time?”

The rune should have protected them from discovery and Kagome spared a thought to wonder how she had found her way around it. Their presence should have been nonexistent to her, allowing them to slip in and out undetected. Was she so powerful now, so glutted with the darkness the runes had been feeding into her, that it was useless against her?

They both felt Tsubaki attempt to flip the spell back onto them, as she had the first time Kagome had performed this ritual, but Miroku’s shielding held strong against her attack and it failed.

“It appears you’ve learned something at least.” Tsubaki huffed in annoyance and Kagome felt a small thrill of victory.

“How did you detect our presence?” Miroku asked, responding telepathically.

“You’re not as clever as you think you are.” Tsubaki replied. “Did you try to use a rune to mask yourself? It doesn't work if you’ve already performed the spell on the person you’re seeking to hide yourself from. Especially not when you had that spell flipped back onto you. Still incompetent, I see.”

“Be that as it may, you still weren’t able to reverse it this time.” Miroku returned evenly.

“You I can’t truly sense, but I knew there was too much power at work for that little priestess to be doing this all on her own. I can only assume you’re the monk.”

“Guilty.”

“So you found me. Congratulations. This changes nothing.”

“Don’t be so sure. We know your plan now.” Kagome shot back. “All those souls you’ve been collecting, all that youki and reiki...we know you plan to bring Naraku back.”

Tsubaki let out a laugh and it echoed inside their heads, girlish and loud.

“Oh, is that all? You’re still as clueless as ever if you think that’s everything.”

“What does that mean?” Kagome demanded.

“As if I would tell you.” Tsubaki scoffed, then her tones turned unforgiving. “In the meantime, I have a gift for you. Consider it recompense for the murder of my apprentice.”

Feeling the power in the air shift around them, they both snapped their eyes open, trying to locate the source of the disturbance.

“Shielding only protects you from a psychic attack. And if you know enough spells there’s always a way to get around even the strongest of wards. Being good only gets you so far.”

Tsubaki murmured a dark incantation and Kagome felt the pull through their telepathic connection; she felt something opening up. Then the link between the two of them and Tsubaki was severed and there was movement in the water.

Miroku and Kagome instantly dropped their hands and sprang back, causing Inuyasha and Sango to become alert, ready to defend them. What looked like snakes swam around their legs, and they both immediately erected barriers against the threat. It was at that moment Kagome and Miroku recognized the two serpents as shikigami. But rather than attack the two spiritualists they shot out of the water and went after Inuyasha and Sango instead, quick as lightning.

One of them wound its way up Sango’s leg then torso faster than she could blink and wrapped the top of its body around her right arm. She triggered the hidden blade at her wrist and sliced the head clean off, but not before it sank its fangs through the leather of her slayer suit and deep into her wrist. Giving a small cry at the sudden pain, she stared as it disintegrated and breathed hard as adrenaline raced through her veins. Checking her wrist over, she noticed there were no holes in her gear left behind from the fangs; there was no blood. But still the ache lingered.

At the same time the other shikigami had raced its way towards Inuyasha, striking out at him with uncanny speed. He dodged its first attempt but it doubled back with a ferocity, set on its target and this time it succeeded. Fangs buried themselves in his ankle and he snarled, reaching down with his claws to shred the shikigami to shreds. With its body destroyed it broke apart into dust and Inuyasha shook his foot, glaring. Whatever it had been it hadn’t actually bitten him, not physically anyways.

“What the fuck?!”

“Sango!” Miroku called out her name, gaining her attention and she realized he and Kagome had gotten out of the pool, him racing to her side and Kagome rushing over to Inuyasha. 

“Miroku, what the hell was that?” She asked, slightly bewildered and a bit concerned. Returning her wrist blade to its sheath she looked at him. Even though her skin was unblemished she still felt uneasy. Miroku took her wrist in his hands and frowned as he spoke.

“That was a shikigami sent by Tsubaki. We got a lot of information but apparently she was still able to break through our defenses enough to send them after us.” He answered, his heart beating fast. The shikigami had bitten her; he had seen it, watched it all as it unfolded. Everything had happened too fast for him to react, to do anything at all, and now he was afraid its bite had left something behind inside her. Pushing her sleeve down he saw her skin was whole and there were no marks that he could see, no blood indicating any actual fangs had pierced through.

“It bit me, but there’s no wound. I don’t understand.” Sango said. She could see the concern on Miroku’s face and watched as he inspected her. After a moment he raised his eyes to her own and she swallowed.

“I don’t think it was meant to be a physical attack. Shikigami are constructs made of spiritual power and Tsubaki went to the trouble of sending these after us which leads me to believe there’s something more going on here. I want to check you over with my own power to make sure it didn’t leave anything behind.” Miroku told her and Sango nodded her consent.

Carefully, Miroku cast his reiki over and into her and she suppressed a shiver at the feel of it. Starting from her wrist and working his way across the whole of her body, Miroku was thorough in his search and he found nothing that didn’t belong. He even closed his eyes for a moment and, slipping into his meditative state again, peered into the shining light that was her soul and there was nothing but Sango there. Opening his eyes he met her darkened gaze and gave a slight shake of his head indicating he had found nothing amiss.

“There’s nothing that I could detect.” He confirmed. Despite his words, neither of them felt better. 

Kagome had dropped to her knees in front of Inuyasha, grabbing at his ankle and attempted her own inspection of him despite his protests that he was fine. Like Sango, there was no mark, no indication that anything had happened left behind on his skin. But she had seen it, and she knew it was likely something deeper that went into the soul. Because he was half demon she couldn't run her reiki through him like Miroku had done with Sango. So instead she had closed her eyes and inspected him with her mind’s eye, able to slip easily into her meditative trance again to look him over. There were no specks of darkness in the light of his soul and so she had no choice but to accept that there was nothing wrong with him.

“I can’t find anything wrong.” She admitted, rising to her feet and looking at him.

“I told ya I was fine.”

“I don’t have a good feeling about this.” She said anxiously. Still, she couldn’t actually prove anything was off about him.

Overhearing their conversation Sango silently agreed but said nothing. She could tell Miroku had his own reservations too, but that he didn’t want to worry her when there was nothing he could find, and therefore nothing he could do about it. Her wrist pulsed with another ache and she held back a grimace, telling herself it was all in her head. If neither he nor Kagome could find anything then that meant there was nothing to be nervous about. She just wished she truly believed that.

Once they had checked Sango and Inuyasha over and found nothing, Miroku and Kagome then told them everything they had learned. They described all the images in their visions in as much detail as they could, images that finally revealed Tsubaki’s location. Taking turns they recounted the telepathic conversation they had had with the dark priestess while Sango and Inuyasha listened intently until they were done.

“‘If you think that’s everything?’” Inuyasha repeated Tsubaki’s words, scowling. “What else is that bitch scheming? Fuck.” 

“I have no idea. Maybe it has to do with the ritual she plans for Naraku’s resurrection. Or maybe it’s something else.” Kagome shrugged unhappily, her face pensive.

“You said you saw the pages of a book in one of the images of your vision. Do you remember what was on it?” Sango asked.

“Now that I think about it-- yes. It was a spell for the resurrection of a half demon, and if I took some time I could probably recall all the details of the page.” Miroku replied after a moment.

“I think I could too. I would guess it's a page from that book of black magic she stole.” Kagome added.

“So we know her location now. We gonna go hunt this bitch down?” Inuyasha spoke what they had all been wondering.

“I mean, what else are we going to do? We can’t really form a plan without knowing exactly what we’re walking into but at the same time we can’t afford to wait around in hopes of her tipping her hand. Who knows when she intends to enact her plan and cast that spell.” Kagome pointed out.

“True, but she knows we found out where she is now. Who’s to say we won’t be walking into a trap?” Miroku returned. Once again he felt there was something they were missing about the shikigami that had attacked them. It seemed too simple coming from a woman who had the most evil of spells at her fingertips.

“Even if that’s the case we have no choice but to go. I don’t like being so unprepared when walking into enemy territory; not when we’re facing off against someone so powerful and evil. But our options are limited. All we can do is be careful.” Sango argued. “If necessary we’ll retreat but we have to at least try.”

“We should at least wait until tomorrow and try to get some rest. I would also like to take some time to write down what I can remember from that page we saw in the visions. I’m sure there was a reason we were given a glimpse at it; it has to be important.” Miroku replied.

“Fine, but we head out first thing tomorrow.” Inuyasha grumbled.

“Alright, it’s decided. We’ll get some rest then meet tomorrow and see what’s waiting for us at that address.” Kagome said. At her words they all left the building and made their way to the main residence. She wished them a good night and Sango waited for Miroku to change back into his regular clothes before they headed home themselves. On the drive back to her apartment they were silent for a bit, each considering all the many possibilities that tomorrow could bring. The shikigami's bite was an unspoken worry between them, hovering in the back of both of their minds.

“What do you think we’ll find tomorrow?” Sango finally asked him to take her mind off of it.

“I honestly have no idea. There’s so many possibilities that speculation is almost pointless.” Miroku shrugged as they pulled into her apartment complex.

“That’s true.” She sighed.

Once inside her apartment he grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and began to write down everything he could remember about the book page he had seen in the vision. When he was finished he looked up and saw Sango hadn't really moved, her face worried and lost in thought.

“Sango? What's wrong?”

She seemed to start at that and gave a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“It’s nothing.”

“The look on your face tells me it’s not nothing. What is it?”

She stared at her wrist for a long moment before answering.

“I know you didn’t find anything wrong, that you examined me very carefully-- but for some reason I can’t shake this feeling. I feel so uneasy; that something has been done to me and I just don’t know what it is yet.” She admitted after a slight hesitation.

“I know it goes against your nature to let yourself be protected but I want you to know this-- if anything happens, if that shikigami really did leave something behind that none of us could detect and it emerges...I’ll take care of it. I’ll save you. I won’t let you be swallowed up by some dark curse.” Miroku told her, moving to stand in front of her. He meant every word and hoped hearing them would help to soothe her fears.

Sango breathed deeply and exhaled, most of her tension disappearing. The sincerity and conviction in his voice was a balm to her soul and she relaxed. Somehow, when he said it like that, she believed him. 

“Thank you, Miroku. For what it’s worth, I’ll always save you, too.”

“It’s worth everything.”

He pulled her to him and placed his mouth upon hers. Kissing her gently, he cupped her cheek and used his other arm to cradle her to him. Sango rested her hands on his shoulders, leaning into it and kissing him back. This wasn’t a kiss that grew more passionate, leading to heated touches; this was a kiss of reassurance and a reminder that whatever awaited them tomorrow, they had each other and they would figure it out.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Deca-Dence 5 - 6 | Moriarty 3 - 4 | Yashahime 4 - 5 | Maou-jou 4 | I7 s2 5 (22) | Akudama 4 - 5 | HypMic 5 - 6 | Taiso Samurai 4 | HPGC 4

Deca-Dence 5

“…cannon won’t ignite in time!” The subbers spell cannon as “canon” later as well.

Off to the cliffside, where Kaburagi goes to die…

Deca-Dence 6

“Maybe someone intervened.” – I think Minato did, somehow.

This Death Dive reminds me of Wipeout.

Moriarty 3

I once made up a quote that goes, “When life detests you, fight back.” I think it’s also roughly along the lines of advice Albert needs.

I remembered an odd line from Macbeth: “Brother, he has killed me!” Seriously, Moriarty is scarier than some actual horror anime, I swear…Update: It’s actually “he has killed me, Mother!”, but same impact.

I had my hands over my mouth from the moment the fire began. That’s how intense this is.

This ED…doesn’t sound like an ED. It sounds like the OP for a different anime, like Joker Game or something. Also, having Saito Soma as Gentaro and Moriarty…is a bit unsettling because they have a lot of overlap but one’s basically the evil twin of the other.

Yashahime 4

“…was raised here…”

“…we can…”

I felt a heart twinge when I saw Towa tear up…man, it’s been years since I last dealt with Inuyasha properly.

“…nights where I can’t fall asleep.” – So…you’ll play it a lot then, Setsuna.

Oh, so Kirara is a nekomata? I never knew until now.

Kikyo!

According to the mythology, the kirin rules over the middle…so why is Kirinmaru the monster in the east?

Is “s***” unwarranted here? I didn’t have the volume on, so I don’t know…Going back, I think Moroha said “kuso”, but it’s still kinda weird to have a swear word in a mostly family-friendly series in a slot near Detective Conan. (Then again, Detective Conan is where I learnt “kuso” from…so my standards are probably not as up-to-scratch as they should be.)

Rin! People keep saying Rin is the mother of the girls and it’s basically the only conclusion that could be done, considering the relationship the two had…but it’s still kind of squick…(Says a person who has no problem with SGRS s2’s ending.)

Update: Someone on ANN said the teacher’s name (Osamu Kirin) being similar to Kirinmaru is sketchy and I agree.

Maou-jou 4

There’s no pun for Rocket Turtle…that’s kinda startling, actually.

I’m not going to translate the eyecatches anymore. Seems they were actually translated in the manga and someone just copies them over or something.

I’ve seen some characters use wa when they really aren’t that feminine. However, the voice Suwabe uses for the Sorceror leads me to believe this guy really is trying to be feminine, even if in just a vocal capacity.

…aw, no puns here too.

Oh no, the seal…!

…hmm? The Scissors Sorceror’s info is…we’re not allowed to look at it. That’s what the red text says.

…my brain exploded for a second when I suddenly heard jazz music. It’s a Detective Conan parody! *screams*

Iina! doesn’t really mean “Lucky!” It means more like “cool!” or “It’s good, isn’t it?”

I7 s2 5

I missed these boys!

I like the Kinako transition. It’s cute.

I don’t really like it when Tenn looks at the screen…it gives me 1st person cam vibes.

Why is Tsunashi being called “this”, anyway?

Oh yeah…mensore = youkoso = welcome.

Uh oh…is Yuki actually evil???

Riku (earth) vs. Tenn (heaven). Hmm.

I still can’t believe they don’t believe Gaku is the soba guy. It’s so obvious!

Chikuzen-ni.

Someone on staff ships Gaku and Tsumugi together…hmm…

Oh! So this is DESTINY, huh? I’ve probably heard it on Spotify before, but I don’t recognise it by sheer sound like I do HypMic. (Then again, the half-year off the airwaves probably really hurt I7, man…)

Akudama 4

Say what you will about how bad Funi translations can get…they’re definitely entertaining!

Geesh, Doctor gets all the sexy shots, but Brawler gets all the ab shots. Can I get a sexy Courier shot…?

“…she’s right.” – There’s a lot of dialogue here, so…uh, who’s “she” in this case?

What’s a “bro fro”?

Wow, Brawler, talk about being punched into next Tuesday…(partially joking)

Swindler’s face, LOL. (I know she’s an ordinary gal, but calling her “Swindler” is shorter to type.)

I remember reading around and people agree Swindler works at the Seal Centre.

The shark and bunny’s shirts say things like “Kanto/Kansai”, “earth, air/water” and “pollution/clean” during their montage.

“feminist” – Uh, ex-squeeze me?! Feminism does not equal “ladies first” or “going easy on ladies”. Update: I went and listenend to it and although one of my ears is mysteriously almost constantly plugged these days, I’m fairly sure Doctor did not say “feminist” (in katakana). Update 2: Then I listened to it again and…I’m not sure anymore.

LOL, Hoodlum hit the in-series camera. With his face.

Oh, vault = garage or storage. Right, how did I not know that?

Cat, nooooooooooooooooo! Don’t die!

HypMic 5

After the two “darker” divisions, it seems almost strange to not have a “dark” introduction about the seedy underbelly of alt. future Japan…

Oh, my gosh. That’s Ichijiku on the phone.

The studio has the word “drops” on it.

Lemme guess: Neither hand!...Yup.

The only spoiler I know for this ep. is it’s a Halloween episode, and “Ramuda ruins Halloween”. That quote is way too subjective to mean anything, though…

…hmm, Gentaro doesn’t say “shousei” in that sentence involving “this humble bard” (not that I heard, but one of my ears is mysteriously plugged after I stayed up late browsing Twitter on my phone – don’t tell anyone that, though! They’re not meant to know!). Gentaro is not a humble bard (although that would translate “shousei” quite correctly in the Shakespearean), he’s an author.

LOL, that “ding!”

Gentaro actually says “ghostbusters” in katakana, LOL.

I almost thought this Shinjuku man was Doppo…but no, this Aoyama Cemetery exists. It has nice cherry blossoms.

The “dun dun dun” soundtrack is great. It really sets the atmosphere.

Gentaro really is an idiots’ minder, just as I used to characterise him. (Then the FP and M manga and developments regarding Ramuda being evil changed my mind.)

I-Is this just gonna be an episode of FP being scared and Ramuda yelling? It’s fun for a bit, but when you’re stopping to analyse every few seconds, Ramuda’s voice is gonna get annoying eventually…

Kurosu seems to be a cross between Jyushi and Doppo.

This ep…makes FP look money-crazy. Dice is only money-crazy when he’s broke…because of course you would be…but the others aren’t.

That rock track that plays when FP hand out flyers is cool!

Are they…eating squid?...Welp, squid jerky. I’d say I’m correct.

Oh, so they’re all street photographers? Not just Tom?

I was wondering…how would the “tie to a different division” occur in episode 5, considering episode 6 is where the plot really kicks in? Turns out…they tie back to BB, which is not a thing I was expecting at all.

BB have a BB tablet…makes sense, because I think Hypster have iPhone cases for each division.

Oh, they’re planting the seeds of Ramuda’s ability here, so to speak. By knowing what Hypnosis Mics are capable of doing, you can see the building blocks of Rap Abilities as well.

Okonbanwa! The extra O is meant to make things formal, but only in front of nouns (sometimes it’s “go”, e.g. goshujin), so it’s Ramuda being overly formal to be cutesy and unconventional.

*lightbulb goes off in head* It makes sense that the group affiliated with illusions and randomness does the Halloween episode, actually.

…Yargh! Of course all these onee-sans are FP stans!...*lightly touches temple, as if to get rid of a headache* I should’ve known.

The new song is “Shibuya Ghost Night” by Tokyo Health Club, Yuki “T-Groove” Takahashi and Yuma Hara.

*stops video before the darn airhorn sounds* Thank goodness…hey, isn’t this quote from Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka…?

This episode is very seasonal, but doesn’t really make sense outside of airing on Halloween. C’mon, couldn’t you have given us a Sasara appearance instead of having Ramuda yell down the house…? I knew the FP episode was going to be either lighthearted with a dark undercurrent, like the BB ep (considering we haven’t gotten to Ramuda dying yet), or full-on lighthearted, but…I somehow wonder if the staff had an empty spot labelled “Fling Posse episode” due to COVID and went, “Okay, it airs on Halloween this year, let’s make it Halloween-inspired”…or something. Also, I feel Gentaro got the short end of the stick here.

Update: As for yakuwarigo, Ramuda trends towards the feminine side, which is not something I noticed until my groupwork partner pointed it out to me. The message in this episode has a “yone”, which proves that point even further. “Dayo~n” is a variant of the gender-neutral “yo” ending. Meanwhile, I have game samples that prove Dice uses “ze” like BB/MTC, while Gentaro uses “yo” and desu/masu like Jakurai, so it was really Ramuda anyone wanted to pay attention to since his speech patterns are the most feminine-leaning, possibly due to his extensive hanging out with ladies. (I once read a Tofugu post on how non-binary people deal with language that said if you hang out with ladies a lot, you take on feminine yakuwarigo and if you hang out with guys a lot, you do the same in that direction, but I clearly remember Ramuda using “sa”, which is a slightly male-leaning ending.)

Taiso Samurai 4

There’s something in the background which stops me from listening to it and one of my ears is blocked, but I gotta find out what Tackey was saying about the NHK Cup (the joke, I mean). Update: So I think it’s ninja/nukihara/kekkou, but I may have heard that wrong due to my blocked ear…I should get someone to clean it out properly.

Here’s the YoI monologue about competitions again. <- (neutral on it) Also, NHK is in English letters/romaji in the term “NHK Cup”, but the “Cup” isn’t (it’s in kanji).

Sekigahara had a huge historical battle.

Huh? This episode’s called “Samurai Musume (daughter)”, so…where did “Battling Samurai” come from? That’s one of the previous episodes, right?

Selfies, before they were cool.

I was wondering if Leo actually calls Rei “Rachel” like he calls Jotaro “Joe”…and he does. I just haven’t paid much attention to the audio, that’s all.

The Battle of Chibi? Never heard of it until now, but the Battle of Red Cliffs is the same thing.

Leo Naruto runs…LOL.

If Rei was in 4th grade in 2002…are we going to see the characters in the present in the end? She would be 28 in 2020.

I guess I should’ve guessed from “hat trick”, but a Bergkamp trap is related to soccer.

There’s a random Japanese-sounding track in the background…didn’t expect that.

A cemetery…on the day after Halloween.

“Grandma’s place” = the bar…Ohhhhhhhhhh. I was wondering, didn’t the grandma and Rei live together? Then it all came together.

Jim Beeam (sic), LOL.

I wonder, are Tackey and Ayu dating like he asks?

Gotta love a man in a suit! *chef’s kiss*

Yashahime 5

Who’s this Tokotsu guy again…? Also, the “ja” in Jakotsumaru means “young”.

Oh, Myoga. It’s been a while.

Can there be 4 Perils when there’s only 3 of them…?

Well, it makes sense that a dog demon would have demon fleas…in a sense.

Why is “trying to swallow up this world and turn it into a degenerate age” (or whatever Kirinmaru’s aim is) so vague? You could say the present is already an age of mass degeneracy…

Maybe the Dream Butterfly took Moroha’s memories…?

Wait, why is Myoga only allowed to drink Moroha’s blood when she puts on the rouge?

So this is an arhat. Also, aren’t morals an Anglophone ideal imported into Japan and the rest of Asia? That’s what separates Towa from Setsuna.

Akudama 5

This drone definitely won’t come in handy at all…(sarcastic)

There’s an Evangelion feel to these “masks”…

That box is like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! It’s great!

I like how the kids jump to the potential fact (?) this is a Swindler trick.

You can see Courier’s bike in the background when the bunny says “…and I mean everything.”

*Knights of Sidonia music starts playing* Search! And! Destroy! *record scratch as music stops*

I think this little discussion between Courier and Swindler will go down in Akudama Drive history as one of my favourite moments because it’s the little conversations that count. Also…does Courier have a mechanical hand, or is that just me thinking weird things…? Is that a glove?

Ooh, scars. Sexy. (On the Executioner Master, at least.)…Now I get why the guy wears that mouth covering.

HypMic 6

Halfway through the season already…? Yikes, how time flies. By the way, my assignment’s come and gone so I don’t need to focus on it anymore.

Hmm? Why did the subbers put “Prime Minister” when Ichijiku merely says “yes”…?

Wait, 1st question: how does one sign up for a rap battle? I don’t think that’s ever been answered. 2nd question (well, not a question): Dice is paying attention to Otome now…

I’m fairly sure that red brick warehouse was just that…as in the Red Brick Warehouse in Yokohama, which was also featured in Bungou Stray Dogs. Update: Oh, it’s (partially) a shopping mall…? I didn’t know that until now.

See, I told you they’re (Tom, Iris and Rex) probably foreigners…

That one shot of Jakurai? *chef’s kiss* Beautiful. Give me a million of ‘em. (Okay, I’m kidding to some degree, but I can’t help staring at it. Jakurai’s just too pretty…)

“Tweet-like lyrics”? Eh? When was Twitter a collective pessimist?

Oh, that’s basically the scene from the drama track. Where the heck is Jakurai fishing though…? I always imagined it to be at a river or a pier, not some concrete complex. Update: According to a user on Twitter, the fishing place is called “Ichigaya Fishing Centre”. It is, as you would expect, found in Shinjuku. Apparently, even Osomatsu-san featured the place...which would explain why it looks vaguely familiar to me.

Wow, I can’t believe how upfront they’re being about Ramuda breaking up TDD.

Ramuda thought in his deep voice…I almost didn’t recognise it for a second. It doesn’t even sound like Shirai. It sounds more like…Hayami, in fact.

“F*** yeah!” - …and they’re still going with the F bomb. Keep being you, subbers, keep being you.

That shot of Saburo in a dimly-lit room almost looks like the SR card in ARB, except in that one he has his headphones on (and might be outside, to my memory).

Oh, so the round thing really is Ichiro’s ring. It’s got an “I” on it too, i.e. the Roman numeral for one.

*Ichiro explains what happened to TDD from his and Samatoki’s side* - I don’t think we’ve ever seen the story from Ichiro’s or Samatoki’s perspective enough to know either thought this (or this way).

“Jiro! Saburo! Let’s go!” - …and Tom’s just taking photos as they leave, LOL.

I didn’t expect the TsudaKen guy to be back again, really.

Well, if this Google route is to be believed, “Sadamezuka’s soul” only lasts about 30 minutes by car crossing from one point to the other, hence Jiro’s remark.

Googling “Toyotama” and “Toyotama Line” gets you…Ghost of Tsushima links…?

…hmm. I’m not listening to it on a hugely loud volume, so I can’t quite tell what the pun is, but I think the word for “monk” in this case is “bouzu”. Then what’s the word for “electric dynamo”…? Update: The pun, according to Takahisa Maeyama, is Erekiteruteru Bouzu.

That ticking thing was really effective in terms of the song…but sasuga HypMic. Things went ka-blammo again.

So we’re probably going to see BB’s first DRB round next ep…or Matenrou doing another takedown similar to ep. 3. Or both. Both is good. (Or it could be the FP/M side of things, much like we got the BB/MTC side of things here.)

...Uh, shouldn’t that be “dawn”? The anime’s generally been very good about this (aside from the obvious typo in the BB logo), but…welp, they’ve done it now.

Update: The LOVE you see Hifumi and Doppo near is this one.

Update 2: As for the yakuwarigo, it…turns out, to no one’s surprise, it stays oddly consistent across all media, although individual treatment of the characters can differ depending on the author.

HGPC 4

Ooh, is this Element of Light?

Fate/Stay PreCure! Here we come!

Moriarty 4

Why is the “to” capitalised? (Is that even capitalised?)

Quinine.

I kind of knew the grapefruit and the heart condition and/or quinine would be relevant somehow…and boy howdy, was I right! I just didn’t really know what it was going to do, that’s all.

I thought the ED didn’t match very well, but looking at the translated lyrics…now it kind of makes sense.

[sarah-writes-stories]

Chapter 1: After It Closed

A Post-Canon Inuyasha Romance/Adventure Epic

Find it on: Fanfiction.net / AO3 / Wattpad

Words: 2,756

Full Chapter List & Description is here.

Prologue  •  Chapter 1  •  Chapter 2  •  Chapter 3  •  Chapter 4  •  Chapter 5  •  Chapter 6  •  Chapter 7  •  Chapter 8  •  Chapter 9  •  Chapter 10  •  Chapter 11 •  Chapter 12  •  Chapter 13

⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯

Six months.

It had been six months since the well had reappeared, delivering Kagome back to her own time.

Six months since she'd watched shock creep over Inuyasha's face when he realized he was being pulled back into the well.

Six months of trying every. single. day. to get back to him.

Six months since… that kiss.

Inuyasha had given her the strength to make the one true wish that had freed them both from the hell they'd been trapped in.

So why? Why had the well stopped working?

Every night, Kagome lay in bed crying, unable to sleep, replaying their last moments over and over again...

The moment when Inuyasha had found her floating in the darkness...

The moment he had pulled her into his arms...

The moment he had kissed her with such relief and tenderness etched across his handsome face.

Each moment dissected with a scientific brutality, hoping against hope that this time she'd discover some magical loophole that would allow her to travel back through to him, or him to her... Until she'd eventually fall asleep like that, unable to think anymore, mind and body spent from the silent tears of longing and frustration she'd wept against her pillow.

That's when the dreams would begin.

The enveloping blackness. The despair. The loneliness. The absolute hollowness of knowing that she was alone. That Inuyasha would not – could not – come for her.

The dream would repeat all night long. She'd call out for him in the darkness, but would only ever hear the mocking call of her own echo in return.

"Good morning, Tokyo! Today's weather looks to be sunny but cool with a slight chance of rain in the afternoon…"

Kagome's alarm jolted her out of the dream. She felt as though she hadn't rested at all. But then again, she hadn't really had a good night's sleep since she'd been back.

Dragging herself up and out of the house, she floated mindlessly through another day of high school. She should have been happy. This was what she'd studied so hard for, fought with Inuyasha so many times over. Getting accepted into high school should have been a triumph. But her grades were suffering, she knew, and her friends were worried about her.

"Hey, Kagome!"

Looking down the hallway as she stood in front of her final class of the day, Kagome saw Ayumi, Eri and Yuka walking towards her with three matching too-bright smiles pasted on their faces.

"Hi, you guys." Kagome tried to sound cheery, but her smile didn't quite make it to her eyes.

Ayumi pretended not to notice, determined to keep her smile bright as she spoke, "The three of us wanted to know if we could come over to your place after school and just… you know… hang out and catch up."

Kagome rubbed her arm and looked away towards the floor. "Oh, I don't know. I'm not really feeling in the mood for that today."

The girls eyed each other silently. They'd been expecting that answer.

They hadn't yet told Kagome what they'd seen. Arriving at her home to find that the well had disappeared, her mother, brother, and grandfather yelling at the ground where it once had been. And then the voice of Kagome's bad-boy boyfriend coming up from under the earth swearing that he was going to find her and bring her back.

When Kagome had finally reappeared at school a few days later they'd wanted to ask her about it then, but Kagome had looked so sad and broken – like a shell of herself – that they couldn't bring themselves to do it.

But the days had run into weeks, and weeks into months, and Kagome's mood had not gotten any better.

And so the three friends had decided amongst themselves that, even if they had to force her, they were going to make Kagome tell them what had happened. They were her best friends after all, and they wanted to help.

It was Yuka who finally spoke the words that all three girls were thinking. "Look, Kagome. We see how sad you are, and we're here for you. We're coming home with you after school today whether you want us to or not!"

Kagome looked at all three of her friends, tears filling her eyes against her will. She blinked quickly, attempting to banish the evidence of her pain.

"Okay," she finally conceded with a slow nod. "I'll meet the three of you back here at the end of school."

"Great! See you then!" said Eri, continuing with a smirk, "And don't even THINK of trying to leave without us. You know we'll just follow you home and barge right into your bedroom."

Kagome did smile then, a half-smile anyway. "I know, I know…"

The bell rang, signalling the beginning class. Kagome shared another quick look with each girl – willing them to feel her gratitude for their constant friendship – before turning on her heel and heading through the doorway.

⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯ "Just let me know if you need anything else, girls!" Ms. Higurashi called over her shoulder as she headed back downstairs.

"Thanks, Mom!" Kagome called after her.

The four girls were seated around Kagome's bedroom. Kagome sat on her desk chair, faced towards her bed. Yuka had taken a seat cross-legged in the middle of Kagome's pink bedspread, while Ayumi and Eri sat on the floor, one beside the bed, the other under the window, knees pulled up under their chins.

"So…" Kagome looked down at the floor, unsure of what to say. She rubbed her hands over her knees in a nervous gesture.

The three friends shared another look between themselves. It was Yuka who then nodded to the other two. They'd already spoken amongst themselves, deciding on the tactic they thought would most likely crack Kagome out of her shell, forcing her to talk with them.

"We know what happened," Yuka said bluntly.

At those words, Kagome's eyes shot up from the floor. She looked between the unwavering stares of all three of her friends.

"What…?" She said in a hoarse whisper. "I don't know what you're talking about…" But even as the words left her lips, Kagome could tell that her friends knew she was lying.

It was Ayumi who took pity on her. "We were here, you know. All three of us. We came to look for you when you missed the high-school entrance ceremony. When we got here we found your family crowded in the well shrine, yelling at the bare spot on the ground where the well used to be." Ayumi motioned with her hand towards the window that faced the well shrine. "Then we heard your… boyfriend's… voice coming up from under the ground telling your family that he was going to get you back."

Kagome sat there for a long moment, completely dumbfounded. "But… you never…" She trailed off, processing Ayumi's words.

Finally, she looked up. "They never told me."

"And we never asked," Eri countered. "To be honest we were just too relieved when you showed back up at school one day, and we figured your family must've mentioned something about us being there, and that you'd just come and talk to us about it when you were ready. Did your mom really never tell you that we were here when it happened?"

"No," Kagome shook her head, her voice low as she continued. "But... But I guess I can understand why. We've all been... hurting. I haven't talked too much with them about what happened either. Not even with my mom."

Yuka was adamant, "We want you to tell us everything, Kagome. I mean it, from the start to the finish. No matter what, we'll believe you. You can trust us. And after what we saw and heard that day, I don't think there's anything that you can say that we wouldn't believe. We're here for you."

Kagome stared at Yuka, blinking dumbly. One heartbeat. Another. Her chest felt tight; it was getting harder to breathe.

And then the dam broke.

Massive shuddering sobs wracked Kagome's body as everything she'd been holding so tightly inside herself for six long months came crashing down around her.

Bonelessly, she slid from her chair down to the floor, doubling over from the pain of it, arms wrapped around her shaking body as though she could somehow still hold the crumbling pieces of her heart together.

It took less than a minute for all three girls to rush forward, huddling around their broken friend, hugging her, allowing her to cry out her pain even as their own tears of sympathy ran free.

None of them knew how long they stayed like that, but when Kagome's tears finally slowed, it was Eri who spoke next.

"Are you ready?"

Kagome dried her cheeks and nodded slowly.

"It all started on my 15th birthday…"

⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯ It was late when Kagome finally finished telling her friends everything. They'd taken a break at one point to eat something, giving all three girls a chance to call their parents and let them know that they were staying the night at Kagome's.

Ms. Higurashi had brought up some tea and a tray of late-night snacks before she herself had retired for the night. She'd been planning on reminding the girls not to stay up too late, that they had school in the morning, but when she saw the tear tracks staining Kagome's face, her heart broke. She understood then what they were all doing up so late, and if letting them stay up all night would help her poor daughter even a little, then she'd happily let them be.

The four girls sat silently for a while, sipping their tea, until Yuka broke the silence. "But… I don't get it. Where are they now?"

"Huh?" Kagome's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Well, you said that these youkai were practically immortal, that they lived for hundreds of years, right? It's only been 500 years or so since the Sengoku Jidai. If you really are trapped back on this side of the well, why haven't your friends come to look for you?"

"Yeah," said Eri. "I mean Shippō at the very least should've come to find you by now, right? He was only a little kid back then. He should definitely still be around today."

Kagome hadn't even thought about that. Were her friends still out there somewhere? Surely Shippō must still be alive. And Sesshōmaru. Could maybe even Inuyasha be–?

Her thoughts didn't get any further down that track before Ayumi spoke up. "But…" she said tentatively as a shadow crossed her face. "There are no youkai."

Kagome was confused. "What do you mean? Yes, there are. I just told you—"

Ayumi cut her off. "No, I know what you told us, and I believe you. What I mean is that, if you hadn't just told us the truth, if you hadn't fallen down that well, then all of us would've lived our lives believing that there was no such thing as magical creatures. That youkai were nothing more than a fairytale."

All four girls thought about that for a second longer before Ayumi continued. "Kagome, think about it. All those times that Inuyasha saved you when he came to our time, did any of those involve youkai?"

She thought about it. The Noh mask had been possessed by a shard of the jewel in the past before being sealed away. The ghost of Mayu was just that, a ghost. And the mindless youkai that had crashed the school's cultural festival had come back with her as dried foods from the past.

"No," Kagome said finally. "None of the battles Inuyasha fought here were with youkai that had originated in our world."

"So then… Where are they all? What happened to them?" Ayumi asked.

"I don't… I don't know!" The more Kagome thought about it, the more her heart sank into her stomach. Her friends were right. If Shippō, or Kirara, or any of them were still around, then surely they would've come looking for her by now.

Eri's worried whisper gave voice to the turn all their thoughts had taken. "What if…? What if something happened to them? Between then and now, I mean."

Those words hung in the air, a weight to them.

"And what if it's not just youkai?" It was a question that Yuka had been pondering since Ayumi first spoke.

Three sets of eyes turned to look at her.

Yuka explained, "An entire species can't have been restricted to just our tiny island. I mean, come on. That's unrealistic. We've all read the myths and stories in Literature and English classes. We've seen the movies. All over the world, there are folk tales about youkai-like beings. So, what if youkai were just called youkai here in Japan, but really these beings were… everywhere?"

Kagome blinked rapidly. "You think…? You think they're all real? All the world's folk tales? But some of those stories – some of those creatures described by other cultures – sound nothing like youkai."

Ayumi piped up then. "Well, a few hundred years ago, humans didn't even think that other humans were the same species! I mean, western conquerors thought Africans were so different that they convinced themselves they were another species, right? Only they weren't, of course…"

Eri continued. "If this is true… If all magical creatures are just different types of what we here in Japan called youkai… And if all of them are gone everywhere on earth…" She trailed off, not quite willing to finish that sentence.

It was too much for Kagome. "No! I can't accept that! It isn't possible! They can't just be gone. HE can't just be gone…"

Her voice hitched as her tears threatened to pour forth again. She closed her eyes against them, then whispered. "I have to go back. No matter what happens, I have to get back to them."

Ayumi, Eri and Yuka all looked from one to the other. They knew without needing the words that if the well ever opened again, their friend wouldn't hesitate to return to that world and never look back.

"Well…" Yuka began slowly, then continued, her voice firm. "Then I guess we have a lot of work to do."

"Work?" Kagome questioned, blinking a few times. "I don't understand. What do you mean?"

Yuka continued. "Well, if you're planning to go back there, then you can't just sit around here. We need to come up with a plan! Even if what we fear isn't the case – that they haven't gone extinct – what kind of friends would we be if we let you go back there without helping you prepare for the journey first?"

"Prepare?" Kagome felt like an idiot, dazed as she was by her friend's words, but Eri seemed to understand what Yuka was getting at.

"Yeah, Kagome! Prepare. You know, keeping up with practising your archery, maybe take some sword-fighting classes or some self-defence classes. I know they have a competitive archery club at school…." Eri was getting excited just thinking about it.

Ayumi got in on the fun then, too. "Yeah, Kagome. And we can help you with research! If you're going to go back there you need to be prepared. We can help you research as much as we can about different youkai. We can even help you research other myths and stories from around the world. They might give us a clue on how you might be able to get back!"

Kagome couldn't help but feel her heart swell at her friends' willingness to help her. She smiled, "Well, I guess you're right…" But doubt quickly crept back in. She turned her eyes back down to the floor before saying, "But the well still doesn't work."

Yuka wouldn't let her friend fall back into despair. "You have to keep trying, Kagome! Don't give up. Try the well once a week. Don't stop. And in the meantime, we'll help you. Heck! I've always wanted to take a self-defence class anyway!"

All three girls nodded at Kagome, urging her with their eyes not to give up.

And for the first time in six long months, Kagome felt a small flicker of hope ignite inside her heart.

A/N – I do not own Inuyasha nor any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi.

[shinidamachu]

Tale As Old As Time

Summary: InuYasha, Kagome, movie night trope and my Disney obsession walk into a bar... Pre-canon fluff. Word Count: 2.159 Genre: fluff Fandom: InuYasha Pairing: Inukag Format: oneshot AO3 Link: 🌹 Fanfic.Net Link: 🌹

“Time to go to bed, birthday boy.” Mrs. Higurashi planted a kiss to Sota’s forehead and the sleepy child grunted softly.

“I’m not tired.” He protested, immediately yawning and contradicting his already fragile point.

“Yes, you are. Come on, now. It’s late. Grandpa is sleeping and I’d like to rest too.”

InuYasha observed the two of them interacting, as he often did. There was a feeling that always came along with it. He couldn’t quite put a nail on the head of it. Something between the most harmless kind of envy and the saddest type of longing. The sensation of a beautiful dream that escaped him by morning, forever out of reach, no matter how hard he tried to make the pieces of it to rise up again in the horizon of his mind.

He remembered his mother to be just as tender.

But did she ever kiss his forehead that way? Did they ever argue over sleeping time, InuYasha and his boyish stubbornness, she and her heavenly patience? How much of her was truly a memory and how much was his wishful imagination? The longer the years went, the thinner the line separating illusion from reality got. InuYasha feared the day would come, when he couldn’t tell the difference at all.

“Fine.” The boy gave in, fatigue stronger then his will and eyes barely open as he stood up and made his way upstairs. “Good night, everybody!”

“Sleep well!” Kagome replied.

“G’night, kid.” 

“InuYasha,” Called Mrs. Higurashi, “I take you’re spending the night?”

“Y-yeah. If that’s alright, I mean.”

“Of course it’s alright, dear! We don’t have a spare room, but we do have extra pillows. Kagome can get you one or two. Do you mind sleeping on the couch?”

InuYasha turned to Kagome, who promptly took his questioning look for what it was. Smiling, she tapped the comfortable surface of the furniture they were currently sitting on, mouthing ‘couch’ to translate her mother’s intentions.

It still caught him off guard, the extent of caring that lady nurtured for his well being. She had absolutely no obligation to. No motivation, other than the pure compassion of her heart. The same compassion he saw in her daughter.

“Oh! No, I don’t mind at all. Thank you.”

When it came to Kagome’s mom, he couldn’t help to be overly-polite. Even if by other people’s standards, that equaled to merely being polite. For reasons he couldn’t comprehend, but that went beyond returning her gentle favors, it was crucial to be in the woman’s good graces. Maybe a small part of him wanted to be reminded how did it feel, getting used to motherly kindness.

“You’re welcome. Now, don’t you two stay up too late. I won’t let you go off to fight demons in the feudal era without a proper breakfast.”

“We won’t.” Kagome assured her. And that appeared to be enough. 

Following after her son, Mrs. Higurashi wished them sweet dreams and before he knew it, he was alone with Kagome.

It was Sota’s birthday, which, InuYasha learned, meant that a decade ago, on this exact day, the little guy was born. To celebrate the occasion, his family reserved the whole day so they could share delicious meals and bask on each other’s company. And to InuYasha’s surprise, his presence was requested there as well.

It wouldn’t be the first time he stayed over, but it was the first time her mom was aware of it. More than aware, encouraged him to do it. Even if InuYasha was fluent in the language of affection, even if he found the perfect words to explain it, he doubted one day she’d understand how much he valued her trust and acceptance.

Kagome cuddled up to InuYasha under the blanket they shared, tangling their arms and allowing her head to fall on his shoulder. His entire body stiffened in response. Was she really that oblivious to the effect she had on him or did she know just what she was doing? He was never able to figure it out. Regardless, resisting the sense of serenity that came with every aftershock was an impossible thing to do. As usual, InuYasha quickly surrendered. And as long as white flags consisted on leaning towards her touch, he was no opposed to it.

“She stayed.” and mesmerised, InuYasha stared at the magical box in front of them — a television, Kagome had told him. In her world, it seemed, there was something new to learn whenever he thought he had everything figured out. For the past four or so hours, they had been watching story after story unfold inside the strange device and Kagome had taken advantage of her brother’s crescent exhaustion to play some of her favorites.

“She couldn’t leave him there to die! He just saved her life.”

“Isn’t he a demon of sorts?”

“A beast.”

“Then it would have been fine, either way. He’s clearly stronger than humans.”

“Maybe. But she needed to see it for herself.”

“Why?”

Kagome sighed. 

“Because she’s already falling in love with him.”

Frowning, he mentally replayed the scenes, searching his brain for the signals he had so obviously missed.

The beast character was in love. InuYasha had no doubt about it. The girl had his heart the instant she volunteered to take her father’s place as his prisoner. He longed for her presence — despite her refusal to indulge him — and put effort into treating her nicely — despite not extending the same courtesy to anyone else. Everything she said, everything she did, had the power to drag him down or sweep him off his feet. He struggled with expressing the sentiment, his pride and bad temper getting in the way. But it was there. The situation was all too relatable for InuYasha not to recognize it.

The girl, though? The idea of her falling in love with the likes of him was absurd. Why would she? It was to be expected that someone graced with such intelligence and beauty would have known her own value better than to fall for a monster.

And yet, Kagome was right.

The tale went on and the girl took the beast to safety. A life for a life. They were even. She was free to go.

Still, she stayed by his side until he healed and every day after that. Because she could see right through his tough facade and was never being afraid of giving him a piece of her mind. And he saw her in return, welcoming the habits her own village judged her for maintaining. Against all odds, they understood each other like the last two native speakers of a tongue long claimed by oblivion.

Of their own accord, InuYasha’s eyes fell into Kagome.

“The best part is coming up.” She announced, thankfully snapping him out of his treacherous thoughts.

Song started playing, a sweet melody filling the air. All of the sudden, Kagome was moving the furniture around.

“Watcha doin’?”

Rather than responding, the priestess took him by the hand and guided him to the center of the room. Dumbfound, InuYasha watched as she silently raised his arm at shoulders height, placing his free palm firmly on her back right after.

By the time InuYasha picked up her intentions, they were already spinning around, dancing barefoot under the television light.

InuYasha had never learned how to dance. Between a battle for his life and the next, the opportunity didn’t present itself and, to be honest, the notion he was missing out on something hadn’t occurred to him. The whole thing seemed so out of his brutal reality, it was almost futile.

And despite finding himself wishing he had the necessary skills to better follow her movements, InuYasha discovered dancing with Kagome to be a surprisingly easy task. There was something peculiarly natural about the way she rested her head over his chest as they slowly swayed to the rhythm. He wondered if she noticed the inflation of it as he breathed her in, the scent he had grown to love so much overflowed his senses with a hint of corn and butter.

Kagome pulled away from him on cue with the song, using the hand holding hers to whirl away from him without ever breaking contact, only to swirl back to his embrace. The more they repeated the steps, the more his confidence grew and, passed the awkward phase, InuYasha was actually enjoying himself.

Too soon, the tune came to an end.

InuYasha stood there, unsure of what to do. Self awareness manifested itself hot pink on his cheeks. He had just danced with Kagome. And he had liked it. And he wanted to keep going.

She stared at him, a big smile on her face as if he was the one to give her a present and not the other way around.

“I always wanted to do that,” she confessed in a nervous laugh. Her gaze avoided his but her body remained in place, pleasantly close. “Anyway… Thanks for coming today. It meant a lot to Sota.”

“Y-yeah, no problem.”

Belle… Are you… Happy here with me?

Yes!

The distant voices brought the half demon down to Earth. For a second there, he had forgotten all about everything that wasn’t her. Their words sank in and InuYasha felt his curiosity blossom. He had to ask, even if the answer scared the shit out of him.

“Are you?”

“Huh?”

“Happy there with me... Are you?”

“Of course!” Guaranteed Kagome. “Why would you ever doubt that?”

There was an unspoken rule to never talk about it. The subject was too delicate, too painful to discuss. Kagome being Kikyo’s reincarnation and falling down that well was not an unpretentious whim of fate. It carried purpose, and once that purpose was fulfilled… Well, he’d rather fight Naraku over and over than having to face the dreading thought of an after.

Miroku and Sango had their future set. Defeating Naraku meant getting rid of the Wind Tunnel and setting Kohaku free, one way or the other. They could finally get married, start a family. Even Shippo had plans to keep doing those fox demon exams in order to improve his powers. InuYasha seemed to be the only one in the dark. His goal was to become a full demon, but that was then. What he wanted now and who he wanted with, had changed into something way more uncertain.

When they defeat Naraku, Kagome won’t hang out in his era as often. Without any further obligations there, she could dispense as many time she judged appropriate for her school thing and they would only see each other sporadically.

There was also the real possibility the Honekui no Ido would close forever. With their mission done, so was the need to allow their temporal trips, and that meant separation. As far as logic goes, he didn’t belong in her world and she didn’t belong in his. 

Yet, she fitted  into his life so well.

The prospect of Kagome choosing to live in the past with him was his favorite ‘what if’. But he had no right to ask her such thing of her, nor was he selfish to the point of actually doing it. She was his friend and even if they were something more, it was crazy to think she would drop her friends, family and everything she knows just for him. How could he ever compete with that?

“I dunno, you do run off here a lot. I guess I just thought you didn’t like there as much.”

“I’m sorry I made you feel this way, InuYasha. But it’s not the case at all. It’s just… I have a life here too, you know?”

“Keh. ‘Course I do.”

She smiled fondly

“Aren’t I lucky to have two places to call home?”

Something inside him melted into a smile of his own.

Their tomorrow was a cloudy day. Changeable and blurry. All he could do was hoping it would clear up.

Of one thing, though, InuYasha was certain: if she so wanted, he could leave everything behind and stay in her side of the well as it closes. The place was loud, too crowded for his taste and the smells were overwhelming, but they would be together and for him that was home.

“I suppose.”

“Come on, let’s watch the rest of the movie. It has the perfect ending.”

Doing as he was told, InuYasha walked to the couch, where Kagome nestled against him again.

Maybe it was foolish not telling her how he felt, how he have been feeling for a while now. It sounded insane to ignore the fear of losing her, of losing his home, always there lurking in the shadows. Maybe he was a mad man for keeping all of the things he desperately needed reassurance of at bay in exchange of enjoying that moment with her.

But right then, the hope of another dance was enough.

A/N: THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE 1K OR LESS, THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE 1K OR LESS, THIS WAS S-

Thank you all for reading. Maybe you've noticed I'm writing fluff stories a little more. I feel like it's not my best suit so I'm trying to give it practice. Still have a lot to improve and this wasn't edited, so be nice.

Anyway... Here is something sweet for @sophtin​ (and my self indulgent ass). Hope you rot your teeth, baby.

[mamabearcat]

OK FIRST OF ALL YOU ARE THE FIRST PERSON I KNOW OF SINCE I JOINED TUMBLR A FEW YEARS BACK THAT’S BOTH IN THE INUYASHA AND FAIRY TAIL FANDOMS❤️🙌 IM GLAD IM NOT ALONE ANYMORE😭 For the kiss prompt #2 for Nalu please❤️ girl i apologize in advance if I blow up your messages from now on😅

Eeeey, hey nonny! There’s a few of us around - if you follow my reblogs you’re sure to find a few more! And I’m always up for a chat - not sure where you are exactly, but I’m an Aussie, so our timezones may be different, so don’t be disheartened if I don’t answer straight away, I may just be snoozing! And as a heads up, I save all the really hot stuff for AO3, just because I know some of my followers are younger. But anyways, here you go!

Natsu leaned his elbow on the bar, watching Lucy, Levy and Cana dancing and laughing out on the hurriedly cleared dance floor. The trestle tables had been pushed back to the walls of the guild with chairs stacked haphazardly on top, and the space left was filled with happy guild members in various stages of inebriation. He couldn’t even remember the reason for the party; possibly someone’s birthday, maybe a successful mission - Fairytail never needed much of an excuse. 

He scanned the crowd. There were quite a few new guild members who’d joined since the Grand Magic Games. He smiled wryly - strange how everyone wanted to join now they were acknowledged as winners by royalty and had a brand new guild hall, when just a month ago they were the lowest of the low.

“The girls seem to be having a good time”, murmured Mira, bringing him over a second glass of fire whiskey. “Why aren’t you out there with them? You’d usually be out there dancing up a storm with Lucy?”

Natsu sipped at the whiskey, appreciating the warm burn down his throat. “Nah, I hate the music Freed picks when it’s his turn to DJ”, he groused. “Too peppy.”

Mira winked at him. “Just happy to watch huh?”

“Quit it Mira”, he grumbled, taking another sip of his drink. 

Ever since they’d returned from the games, the gossip about him and Lucy had increased tenfold. He heard ‘Are they / aren’t they’ whispers all around the guild, even out amongst the civilians in Magnolia. And the thing was, he would be happy to take it to the next level, but Lucy always got so goddamn flustered every time they got too close. 

So he kept backing off, keeping their friendship happy and light, just like always, at a level she was comfortable with. People thought him oblivious, but he was just biding his time. He was happy to wait until she was ready. He’d wait forever for Lucy.

“Don’t watch for too long Natsu”, said Mira, nudging his elbow, “looks like you got competition.”

Natsu’s eyes snapped to Lucy. One of the newer male guild members was dancing a little too close to her. Every time she shuffled to one side to get closer to Cana or Levy, he closed the gap, even when the other girls swapped places as they danced to move her away from him, making it blatantly obvious that she didn’t want to be near him. Then he started touching her as they danced - a hand on her arm, a brush on her waist. He saw Lucy say something to the guy with a friendly smile, but the touches continued, increased even. Lucy was starting to look uncomfortable. He got up from his seat at the bar with a scowl, about to step in when Lucy caught his eye and winked at him.

Moving slower now, letting Lucy handle things herself, he walked onto the dance floor instead of storming over ready to solve the problem with his fist. He grinned from the sidelines as she ‘accidentally’ stumbled, her high heeled boot grinding directly onto the toes of the man who had just put both hands on her hips, ready to grind in behind her.

“Oh, how very clumsy of me”, she giggled, hiding her smile behind her hand at the man’s pained expression. “I did warn you not to get so close - I’m a very clumsy dancer. Isn’t that right Natsu?” 

“Yup”, agreed Natsu, stepping forward to casually throw an arm around Lucy’s shoulders. “You’d do well to back off buddy.” His tone was friendly, but the threat was definitely there.

The man scowled and shrugged, disappearing off into the crowd.

“You okay Luce?”, Natsu bent to whisper into her ear. 

“Yup”, she grinned, bumping her hip playfully into his. “He wasn’t too hard to handle. Besides, I knew I could count on you to step in if things got dicey.”

Natsu grinned at her. “Always, Luce.” He began to walk back to the bar, but Lucy grabbed his hand as the music started up again. 

“No, don’t go, I love this song. Stay and dance with me Natsu!” Natsu grinned as she grabbed his arm, then threw her hands up above her head as her hips swayed to the beat. They danced around each other, each coming up with more and more ridiculous moves, until Lucy was giggling hysterically.

“I need some fresh air”, she hiccuped as the song ended, dragging Natsu off the crowded dance floor and out the front doors of the guild hall. 

The air outside was much cooler, and Natsu gave a sigh of relief. As much as he loved parties at the guild, a warm room full of sweaty drunk bodies wasn’t as much fun for him if he weren’t sweaty and drunk himself. He drew in a deep cleansing breath, looking upwards towards the stars. He could hear the music start up again inside, a swirling insistent beat.

“Hey Natsu, would you dance with me?”

He looked at Lucy with a puzzled expression. Didn’t she just drag him outside because she needed a break and some fresh air? He shrugged, taking her hand to lead her back to the dance floor, but she tugged him over to the side of the guild instead, into the shadows. 

“No, out here. Where we’re alone.”

Natsu looked at her quizzically. 

A blush rose to pink Lucy’s cheeks, and she huffed out an impatient breath, blowing her fringe out of her eyes. “I know I get embarrassed easily”, she began, twisting her fingers together, “and a lot of that has to do with the fact that people are always watching us, waiting for us to be together. I know that you’ve heard people saying that too.”

Natsu stepped forward to brush the long section of hair out of Lucy’s eyes, tucking it behind her ear. “I have Luce, but that’s not what’s important.”

“What is important Natsu?” Lucy whispered, her brown doe like eyes blinking up at him. They seemed to shimmer in the starlight, and he thought she’d never looked more beautiful.

“What’s important is what we want”, he said softly. “I care about you Luce, a whole lot, and I’ll be by your side however you want me to be, for as long as you want me to be.”

“What... what if I decided that I wanted more than what we have now?” said Lucy hesitantly, her hand reaching out to softly rest on Natsu’s chest.

He grinned at her. “Then I’d say I’m ready to take that step with you, as slow or as fast as you want me to.”

“Dance with me Natsu”, Lucy smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck. Natsu’s arms slid down her sides to rest lightly on her hips as they rocked to the music, gradually finding a rhythm, gradually drawing closer, until Lucy’s chest was pressed tightly against Natsu’s, and his thigh was between hers. 

Natsu’s eyes kept drifting down to Lucy’s softly pouting lips. He longed to taste them, wondering if they were as pillow soft as he’d always thought, wondering if she tasted as good as she smelt. Her small pink tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip and he almost groaned aloud. Did he dare kiss her now? Would she back away, startle like a frightened deer, or would she embrace their new closeness?

He tested the waters by rubbing his cheek against hers as they danced, breathing in her strawberry shampoo scented hair. He nuzzled his nose against hers, felt the tickle of her long lashes against his cheek, brushed his lips on her cheek near the corner of her mouth, then pulled back, leaving the next step to her.

With a blush and a self conscious giggle, she obliged, tilting her face up to kiss him softly. Butterfly kisses, fluttering, barely there, tickling almost. He was content to keep their kisses soft, not wanting to frighten her, but to his great surprise she deepened the kiss and her tongue hesitantly entered his mouth, sensuously prodding his own, gliding softly over his fangs. He felt like he’d died and gone to heaven, his blood rushing hot beneath his skin, like molten lava. 

Lucy moaned softly into his mouth as he returned the kiss, their tongues now dancing instead of their bodies as they wrapped themselves tightly around each other. There was no space between them but Natsu didn’t feel close enough, didn’t feel like he’d ever be close enough. 

A small cough had Natsu on full alert, pushing a flustered Lucy behind him, ready to berate whoever had interrupted this precious moment.

“Nice night for it”, commented Master softly, hands behind his back, rocking on his heels. “Just wanted to warn you that the party’s breaking up, so if you don’t want an audience, you might want to take this elsewhere.”

Natsu snarled, ready to rage. This is exactly what had been holding Lucy back, everyone poking into their business. He felt Lucy’s smaller hand curl into his, entwining their fingers.

“C’mon Natsu, let’s go. You can walk me home.” She bit her lip, glancing at Master and then away again, her cheeks bright. 

Natsu turned on his heel, only pausing momentarily to hear Master’s parting words. 

“I promise I won’t say anything - they won’t hear it from me.”

Natsu shrugged, then allowed Lucy to draw him down the path that lead to the canal, and her small flat on Strawberry Street.

Master grinned at them, watching as they walked so closely they were almost on top of each other, hands tightly woven together. He had been beginning to worry that he’d have to come back from beyond the grave to see them finally together. He was happy. And besides, with all the gossips in the guild, he’d give them two days tops before somebody else found out and he’d be free to spill the beans to Mira.

[jafndaegur]

Never Far Away - Chapter Ten

Strange Things

Prologue | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | x 

*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ* *✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ* *✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*✭˚･ﾟ✧*

Rubbing his face and trying to dispel any visible stress from his features, Sesshomaru paced back and forth as the damned kitsune sitting unabashedly in front of him continued his mischievous grin. Stopping for a moment, the Goblin turned on his heel and gave a sharp look to the fox. Said fox blinked and gave an innocent look before pointing to himself as to ask, ‘oh, someone’s in trouble? Wait, who me?’

“Let this one surmise what you had been thinking, kit,” the former daiyoukai sighed, massaging his temples. “You told another cursed creature like myself—a creature with uncanny resemblance to my idiotic half-brother—that he could live here under rent?”

“Oh no, not at all, Sessh,” Shippou laughed, leaning forward on his knees and winking. “I told him he is going to live here. He already paid the first month’s rent.”

The atmosphere when frigid as the Goblin glared at the fox. There were several nerves in the white-haired male that seemed visible as he tried rigidly maintained his failing composure. There was very little restraint left. His heir was driving him up a wall he could not escape and he was furious. Clenching his fists and trying to make his smile as aggressive as he could, he crossed his arms over his chest, making his stance dominant.

“He paid rent for what? A house that this Sesshomaru lives in?” he demanded.

The kitsune giggled. “Of course. You’ve got a roommate now!”

Lunging forward, the Goblin set his hands to strangle the youkai. With a squeal, Shippou hopped out of the way and rolled onto the floor, his five tails waving ecstatically as he looked onto the previous dog demon. He gave an appeasing glance before forming illusions of himself to surround the furious magic user. Snarling with a smirk, Sesshomaru enjoyed a good challenge set before him. It was just like hunting.

“Now now, Sesshomaru, think rationally,” the fox gulped, noticing the predatory look from the other; he shifted nervously. Not sure if he should pounce or flee.

“Hah! Just like you rationally leased my house out?” Sesshomaru jumped from his spot on the couch and tackled the real kitsune, laughing because even despite his disadvantage of no longer being a youkai, he could still force the other demon to submit.

“Ahhh, uncle uncle!” The fox cried out, his breath hitching when the Goblin kneed one of his tails.

A victorious glint in his eyes but a taut drawn mouth, Sesshomaru stood and patted his button-down shirt to smooth out the wrinkles before dusting off his pinstripe trousers. Giving a groan of defeat, Shippou rested his forearm over his eyes. Leaning down, the white-haired male flicked the young ginger’s forehead.

“Do not sell what is not yours, kit,” he warned, that hunter’s look back in his eyes.

“Oy, just a fat fucking second,” came an uncouth voice, entering the room. “What do you mean don’t sell what ain’t yours?”

Turning around and facing the white-haired Shinigami, the Goblin rolled his eyes and walked passed him—ignoring the question.

“Hey bastard just wait a fucking minute, dammit!” the male rushed to catch up with him, throwing his baseball cap on his head so that the white locks of his hair turned black and the golden hues of his eyes darkened to brown. “I live here now so it’d be great if you’d explain why you’re here.”

“This Sesshomaru will only speak once on the matter.” Threatening smoke of violet and lilac began to swirl along the Goblin’s body while his eyes blared a beautiful gold. In his hands materialized Bakusaiga, and he held it pointed at the chest of the other. With a surprised look, the capped man stopped with a disgusted curl of his lip. “Do not intrude in the house of a Goblin. So I recommend you get out, Shinigami.”

“I paid my dues, and I can’t just get a damned refund,” growled the Shinigami. “I live here now and you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

Lilac flames burst along the edge of Bakusaiga and he pressed it closer to the offender. The sound of ice crackled and the tip of the sword was met with a layer of frosted air. Almost like a fight among deities. The two glowered at each other.

“What did you say your name was, fool?” Sesshomaru growled, eyeing the intruder.

“Ain’t got one. And even if I did, wouldn’t tell a bastard like you anyway.”

“Well then, Shinigami with no name, excuse yourself when you see fit. Make sure the fox locks up behind you. This one wishes not to see your face ever again near my property.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

“This Sesshomaru does not kid.”

That said, the sword disappeared and the Goblin turned away, walking through the front doors. Outraged, the Shinigami chased after him, yanking open the door with fury before realizing that his new landlord had disappeared into thin air. Pulling off his hat with a grunted exhale, he turned around to see Shippou standing sheepishly, his tails twitching. He walked back over the fox with an irritated intake of breath.

“You better start explaining now, brat,” he placed his hands in his pockets, leaning back nonchalantly, “just what the the hell is going on.”

~

Kagome sat in the booth at Wacdonalds, a tired expression and grimace on her face. Eri, Yuka and Ayume continued to prattle on about the newest gossip of their school. Her ears did not particularly take in anything they were saying. Her hand propped her chin and her gaze wandered out the window, watching people walk back and forth in front of the fast food restaurant. Was it too much to hope that something exciting would happen so she wouldn’t have to deal with them today? Her nerves, since she had seen Sesshomaru, had been particularly short. She wanted more explanation as to why he was here. Also as to why he was missing all of his markings. He had told her he was no longer an Inu daiyoukai, but surely that had to be impossible. Someone couldn’t just stop being what they were. It was a paradox about identity. But sure enough she could trace some youki from him, just not the same youki as before.

It was all very bizarre.

“Were you listening Kags?” Eri asked, a worried look on her face.

Snapping back to reality with her friends, she gave a sheepish look. “Ah, yes, sorry. Who’s together with who now?”

Ayume gave a slightly annoyed sigh. “Jeez, Kagome, it’s like you’ve been your own little world for the past few days now.”

“You just haven’t been your normal self,” Yuka nodded, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand. “Are you okay?”

Reaching across the table, Eri took the miko’s free hand and gently squeezed it. “We’re your friends, Kagome. If something’s wrong, we want you to tell us.”

A small smile pressed her lips, and the young woman couldn’t help but give her friend’s hand a reassuring squeeze in return. “I’m fine guys, I guess I’ve just been feeling under the weather is all. They say the flu is going around in the class under us.”

“The flu?” Ayume tilted her head back before looking a bit shocked. “Oh that’s right! I hope you’re not sick Kagome! Especially when you were so frail in middle school.”

She bit her lip as she tried not to remember all the fake illnesses Jii-jii had come up with as excuses for her not to attend school. Looking back on those times, it seemed rather humourous. But every now and then, some sort of stomach bug or cold would go around the school, and all of her friends would be stern in making sure she took all necessary precautions to not become sick. In all truth, marching around the feudal era with Inuyasha, killing demons—sifting through blood and guts for jewel shards—had given her a rather iron constitution. But no one else knew that.

“I’m sure it’ll be okay,” she reaffirmed. “I think it’s just the tail end of it.”

Her friends exchanged worried glances before they all nodded simultaneously. They gathered up their empty paper cups and hamburger wrappers, the stacked their cardboard fries holders and the trays before making a neat pile of their trash. They smiled generously.

“Let’s call it a day Kagome,” Yuka nodded, gathering the trays in her arms before sliding out of the booth first.

Ayume gathered up the rest before sidling out of the booth as well. “You go on home and get some rest. That way when we go out next, you’ll be your normal energetic self.”

“Guys,” Kagome’s voice felt heavy with gratitude.

“Come on, let’s head out,” Eri gave a pleasant smile, as she finished scooting down the seat.

With a relieved nod of her head, Kagome slid off her side of the booth. However as she stood up, strapping on her purse, a man bumped into her. He tripped over her from behind, stumbling forward with a surprised grunt as he dropped something onto her shoulder. She cringed as the rancid smell of smoke met her nose. The man turned around and cursed at her before stomping away out of the restaurant.

“Could’ve at least apologized, jerk!” Ayume called after the man.

Yuka raised her fist and shook it. “Yeah! Can’t you see the sweet girl trying to leave.”

The smell of smoke still hadn’t left the miko’s nose so she figured the guy must have been a heavy smoker. However, Eri made a surprised gasp, made a motion to the shoulder which the man had dropped something on. She had forgotten.

“Kagome, it’s cigarette!”

Realizing that was the source of the smell, her first instinct was to get it off. With a quick turn of her head, she blew as hard as she could, and the small roll of paper fell to the floor. No longer smoldering, just out completely. Kagome stepped on the ashy thing and smushed it between the toes of her shoe and the floor. Her brow dipped angrily.

“Gah! I hope it didn’t ruin my sweater,” she complained, dipping her shoulder to look at the blackened spot on the blue cable-knit.“What a guy, couldn’t even apologize for doing something so stupid!”

Her friends had gone surprisingly quiet and they looked past her. With a sigh, she figured the man had come back to hear her badmouthing him. Well if that was the case she was going to give him a piece of her mind. Besides, they were in the nonsmoking part of the district anyways, he shouldn’t have been doing something stupid—and it was his fault for bumping into her.

She spun around to meet the very irritated eyes of not the man who had bumped her, but Sesshomaru.

He held between his fingers and placed against his lips, a white porcelain teacup with bluebells decorating the rim. His eyelashes fluttered a tad as he double took his settings. With a sigh, his gold eyes landed on Kagome and his ever-austere expression did not change. She laughed sheepishly, guessing what happened given she blew the stupid cigarette off of herself.

“This one could attest to people not apologizing for their idiotic actions,” he stated lowly, taking a sip from the cup.

With a groan, she slouched back a bit, resting her fingers on her temples. “Look, it was an accident this time.”

“So idiotic and careless.”

“Sesshomaru, that’s not even fair. It was a genuine mistake.”

Her friends began to whisper behind them.

Arching his brow in annoyance, he gave a warning glance to the miko. “Whether or not it was a mistake, woman, you still inconvenienced me greatly. Bringing this one to an establishment such as this.” His eyes observed the bright red paint and the yellow decals, his nose sniffed the fatty smells of meat and grease. “Distasteful, idiotic, and careless.”

“Distasteful?” Yuka piped up, stepping around Kagome. “Now you listen here mister!”

Kagome’s blood froze.

The Goblin took another miniscule drink from his tip cup, turned on his heel, and walked away. Swaying neatly behind him was the tail to his long brown coat, while his newly shined shoes seemed contrast against the stale white tiles. The other girls watched him go, completely stupefied that he would just ignore them. On the front door, the bells rang as he stepped out. Kagome could see the lilac swirls of smoke from before and she decided to do the most sane thing she could think of. Chase after him.

With a quick goodbye and apology to her friends, she ran after him. Her hands hit the glass of the door just before it closed and she swung it open. His head was seen over a small crowd of people as he continued walking along, back to what seemed like a small outdoors cafe. 

“Sesshomaru!” She yelled, rushing to him.

He spun around, and for the first time in a long, long time, there was a genuine expression on his face. He was surprised. Slightly thrown off by that, she slowed down to where he had stopped on the small street. She blinked, unsure of what to do before she had a good chance to really see what was happening. Around her, there were crowds of people just like she had seen outside the window of Wacdonalds. However, the people here were definitely not Japanese. They were pale, with varying brown or blonde hair. What’s more was that they were most definitely not speaking Japanese either; it sounded like English to her.

“How...how did you follow this Sesshomaru?” he finally asked, his voice taut.

“I just...ran after you and pushed the door,” she stated in confusion, showing him with her arms outstretched and gave a small pushing motion. “Hey, where exactly are we, Sesshomaru?”

With a small sigh, the white-haired male set his cup down on a brick wall with long stalks of ivy and roses growing along the clay. It was a strange sight. Ivy and roses together in one place, because in Tokyo currently, it was too cold for roses to be in bloom.

“Quebec.”

[inuykago]

return to the place where we first. . .

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY (6/15) TO MY WONDERFUL FRIEND @l0st-amul3t 💕💖💝🌸 

please enjoy this decently-written drabble I attempted to write for you and everyone please greet this great person & talented artist a happy birthday (by pm-ing her or reply below bc her ask isn't working..???)!

ALSO, a BIG shoutout to my other amazing friend @stubbornhalfbreed​ for suggesting this idea to me in my time of crucial writer’s block ♡.

p.s. there’s a sappy hbd note after the story

{canon. inukag. 1524 words.}

“Ka-go-me!” Inuyasha shouted as he slid the kitchen door open.

He looked down at Sota, Mama, and Jiichan who were all at the kitchen table eating dinner. Their mouths were half-full, ready to take another bite, as Inuyasha’s mouth took shape of an “o.”

“INU NO NIICHAN!” Sota exclaimed as he rushed over to hug the pupper. “Wait a second,” the boy pulled back, still gripping Inuyasha, “Weren’t you here this morning?”

Inuyasha’s cheeks turned red as he noticed Kagome’s mom and grampa smirk at the boy’s question, “N-No!” He pulled away, “T-That wasn’t me.” He pouted and crossed his arms.

“Eh?” Sota pointed at him. “But who else wo-”

Inuyasha hurried to cover his mouth and laughed nervously, “D-Don’t listen to him.” He released Sota like nothing happened -- the boy catching his breath-- “Is Kagome home?”

“Sorry, Inuyasha,” she smiled sadly. “Kagome has been out all day at the library studying with her friends,” she said as she took another bite of her food. “But, if you really wanna see her-”

“W-What?!” he cleared his throat. “I j-just wanted some more ninja food… th-that’s all,” he lied terribly.

Gramps nodded sarcastically as he ate his noodles, “I see.”

Inuyasha wasn’t sure if it was his mind playing tricks or if they were all suggesting that he was dying to see her. See her? Kagome? Why the heck would I care?!: is what he thought; but I do kind of miss her… and her nagging… her annoying voice… her…: is how he knew he felt.

“Inu no niichan!” the boy shook him out of his daydream.

Inuyasha shook his head -- hoping no one noticed he zoned out -- and looked down, “You can wait with me if you want! We can play video games and watch TV!”

“You mean the magic box?” he seriously asked.

Sota nodded and grabbed his hand before he even had a chance to think.

It was already 9 p.m.; the sky was dark and the stars were already high in the sky. Jiichan had fallen asleep on the chair in the living room while Sota was passed out on the floor with the controller in his left hand and the TV on full-blast with a virtual fighting game on the screen.

Mama had her face flat on the kitchen table, snoozing away with a dish rag in one hand and a half-clean plate in the other. Buyo was making his way to sleep on Sota’s stomach as Kagome closed the front door and made her way upstairs.

“Jeez, why is everyone already asleep?” she mumbled to herself as she rolled her shoulders. “Have I really been gone that long?”

She sighed as she let her yellow stuffed backpack slide off her back and drop to the ground. She fluffed her hair before getting ready to unbutton her shirt as she turned to the mirror and exclaimed:

“INU-INUYASHA?!”

The exhausted pup immediately fell off the bed, making a long ‘thud’ noise. He rubbed his head and immediately ran over and smushed his forehead against Kagome’s in (fake) extreme rage, “Why would you do that?!”

“Why would I….?!” she yelled as she shoved her forehead back against his. “Why are you in my room?!”

“Wh-what I’m not --” he stopped and took a look around -- “...oh.” He nervously laughed, but refused to let her win, “W-Well, where have you been all day?! All week?!”

Kagome laughed sarcastically, “Oh, now you wanna get all uptight about where I am?”

Inuyasha lowered his ears in fear, “N-No…”

“Where were you all those times you randomly ran off??” she crossed her arms. “Hmmmm?”

At first, he got mad that she even brought it up -- yes, I was with Kikyo, but dammit, Kagome… it’s not what you think... : is what he thought, but:

“Look,” he eased up his tone. “I j-just… j-just… the gang misses you,” is what he said.

Kagome sighed because she thought he was gonna say something more meaningful, “Okay…,” she put her finger on her chin. “But what does that have to do with being here --” she waved her arms in a circle -- “in my room?”

Inuyasha panicked, “I-It’s not like I miss you or a-anything!”    

For some reason, something in Kagome broke, “... Stupid.”

“Stupid?”

“Yes…,” she lowered her head and closed her fists. “BAKA, BAKA, BAKA!” Inuyasha shuddered, not knowing what to do, “Leave….me alone…”

“W-What?” he reached out to her, but she turned away.

“GO,” she shouted as he crawled away, and out the window.

He stared back into the window before he shut it behind him. She threw herself onto her bed and covered her eyes, almost as if she were to cry. Inuyasha felt bad for what he said, but at least he knew that it worked.

FIVE DAYS LATER

“Inuyasha? Miroku?” Kagome called out into the forest. “Shippo-chan? Sango-chan?”

She looked from left to right as she pushed herself out of the well. The breeze was nice and the sun was hiding shyly behind the clouds; a butterfly followed her on the way out, just like when she had first arrived in the feudal era.

“G-Guys?” she muttered as she finally saw the gang in the distance.

Inuyasha was yelling at Miroku while he ignored the pup’s shouts. Sango was laughing with Kirara, enjoying the amusement, while Shippo was acting “innocent” helping Kaede with the crops -- so basically a normal day.

“Kagome!” Shippo exclaimed as he ran to her and jumped into her arms. “We missed you… Especially that one --” he whispered, pointing to Inuyasha-- “where have you been?”

She giggled, rubbing his head, “I’ve been busy with my studies.” She smiled, “I’m sorry I haven’t been around.” She looked over at Inuyasha, “At least, I’m finally free on this special day!!”

Shippo tilted his head, “special… day?”

“Very funny, Shippo…,” she giggled nervously as he jumped down. “I only talked about it every day for the last two weeks…”

Did they really forget it’s my birthday?

She walked over to Inuyasha, and his eyes lit up, but he shook his head trying to hide the fact that it did.

“Today’s a special day, isn’t??” she pouted and put her hands behind her back, sway back and front, waiting for someone to answer.

Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango all looked at each other -- left to right, right to left -- before shrugging and a complete blank look on their faces.

“Eh?” Inuyasha scratched his head. “What’s so special about today?” He turned to Miroku, “Did he not hit on anyone today?”

It was almost as if fumes began smoking out of Kagome for reasons, and Sango for, well, other reasons. The two girls tried to contain themselves while the boys continued to be clueless.

Inuyasha noticed the death stares on their faces, “W-What did I do?”

Miroku jabbed his staff onto Inuyasha’s head, following the rude remark -- Shippo dug his feet into the dirt trying to hold Inuyasha back.  

“Anyways…,” Miroku turned to Kagome. “Ahh, you’re right!” He put his hand on her shoulder, “It is a special day!”

“See!!” she jumped up and down. “Thank you, Miroku!”

He took a deep breath, “There’s a festival going on in the village over!”

Kagome fell straight to the floor. She rubbed her head as Inuyasha and Shippo exclaimed “FREE FOOD” and Miroku yelled “SINGLE LADIES.”

The two ladies sighed again, lowering their heads in unison.

Sango laid a hand on Kagome, reassuring her friend, “Don’t worry.” She smiled softly, “I know why it’s a special day.”

“Really?!” Kagome let herself get excited once again.

“Yes,” Sango slowly walked over to Miroku. “Today is when…,” she smirked at him, “Houshisama gets what’s coming to him.”

She leaned into the monk, closed her eyes, and threw a nice jab to the face.

Inuyasha and Shippo rolled around on the floor, laughing uncontrollably as they grabbed their stomachs while Sango was satisfied and walked away with sass.

“Sigh,” Kagome breathed. “Whatever, you guys can go.”

She walked away from the loud noises of Inuyasha’s laugher and Miroku’s complaining. She slid the door open to Kaede’s hut and quietly sat next to the pot, sulking in her thoughts.

“Kagome,” she turned around. “Why are you so sad? Isn’t it your birthday?”

The girl gave a weak smile, “Thanks for remembering, Kaede.” She sighed for the tenth time, “But the others don’t…”

“Oh,” the lady thought to herself. “Well, let me make you a special soup; it’ll make you feel better.”  

She nodded slowly and watched Kaede leave the hut.

“It worked,” Kaede whispered to the gang.

“Kaede… where… are … you,” she tried to feel around her, but it was nothing but air. “Taking… me… ?”

“SURPRISE!!!”

Kaede removed her blindfold and before her was a huge birthday banner hung across the well. Flowers of different colors were planted around it and tables with different foods and cakes were placed on two tables.

The gang wore party hats and yelled in excitement -- they all looked stupid, but it still made Kagome’s heart melt.

Inuyasha walked up to her, “I wanted to celebrate your birthday in the place where we first met.”

ok here’s the sappiness:

it is 2am as I write this. Me you and Jocelyn are on a call together and I couldn’t have asked for better friends. Sakura, I’m so glad you messaged me that one time when I was overreacting over nothing. Thank you for making me laugh even when I don’t even want to. I hate when you make fun of my autocorrect and you try to make me talk to boys. But I'm so grateful for having you as a friend and being part of this great little friend group that we have. #thonkforever 💕