Bloodborne Duties

Bloodborne Duties

An ancient curse was placed upon the Inuyoukai family: if the youngest born heir does not produce an heir-apparent before his 205th birthday, the Dogs will surrender to the Panthers. Inuyasha is the youngest heir and it is his duty to avoid the curse.

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I didn't want to write this but my wife thought it would be a great idea to write our life story on paper and publish it so we could sell it to the world and make some extra cash. Keh, as if we don't already have enough money. I'm the co-owner of Taiyoukai Enterprise and also am among one of the many shareholders of the company—I have money, enough so that giving a check of ten thousand dollars to each of my seven children would be nothing more than just pocket change.

On the note of my children, yes I have seven. But that number isn't actually a lot considering that I am over seven hundred years old. My wife's age is somewhat of an iffy topic.

Technically, she would be twenty-one years old but she is also over five hundred years old…

I'll explain that one later on.

So here's the deal, wifey-dearest wanted me to write an autobiography… I ain't good with words but I thought I'd give it a try to please her. She did give birth to seven of my brats right? Keh!

I would start from the beginning but the beginning is sad and memories I don't want to bring about. Perhaps the most significant thing that should be known from my past is Kikyo. She is a common recurrence in my—our—life and perhaps it would be justifiable to mention her. Kikyo was the first woman I loved, but that was over five hundred years ago, and fifty years before I met my wife. Kikyo pinned me to a tree and, fifty years later, my wife unpinned me. Our journey was perilous and hectic and we had some great companions tag along with us: Shippo, Sango, Kirara, and Miroku. Shippo and Kirara are still alive today and are under my protection, but since Sango and Miroku were human, they aged and passed on as humans would.

But their children, and children's children, and their children as well, are always under my protection.

No matter what.

It was a promise I made to Miroku before he passed on—his generations will never feel without protection. Although I never admitted it to Miroku during his lifetime, he had become the best friend I never had (aside from Kagome, but she was more of a lover-best friend). I confided in him even when I was unaware of it, and he had always given me advice, whether I presumed it to be the pervert in him speaking, or not.

Anyway, my story begins on the night of a new moon. It was close to three years into our journey for the shards of the Shikon no Tama. Initially we had completed it and we were just waiting for the right moment to extract the jewel from Kohaku's back (long story short: Kohaku was Sango's dead brother revived by the bad guy Naraku with a jewel shard from the Shikon no Tama).

But before we could get that far, Naraku appeared and we got into a nasty battle. This was three years into our journey since the wench (also known as the wife, the mate, or simply Kagome) always went back to her time for "school" - in my opinion, it was unneeded- and we couldn't invest as much time as I wanted to in shard hunting.

It would be ideal to put in here that my wife, Mrs. Takahashi (see the aforementioned AKA's) had the ability to manipulate the Bone Eater's Well on the Higurashi Shrine premises. That was because she had the Shikon Jewel embedded into her body, and as such, was able to travel back and forth through time. That also ties in to her age: in her era she would be considered twenty-one (now, that is. The time in which this story begins she is eighteen years old), but after we married we decided to live in my era. Because she and I had a bond that transcended time, I was also able to manipulate the well.

We defeated Naraku, but in the process the jewel shattered again. It wasn't the best feeling in the world to see the hundreds of shards scatter throughout Japan for a second time. Sango had gotten pregnant before we defeated Naraku. As such, she and Miroku had gotten married were not present during the Final Battle. Trust me, they were devastated (well... I can't say much for Miroku, but Sango was angry as hell). But what to do, Kagome suggested that they stop travelling with us when we found out Sango was pregnant. I said that no pregnancy can be planned when you're lover is a lecherous monk.

My missus said that he only has eyes for her. Can a man be lecherous if he only has eyes for his wife?

Keh.

Anyway, Kagome and I incinerated Naraku in an underground cave - it was quite the battle, if I do say so myself (and the details of the battle will be written out in this auto-freakin'-biography.

We hadn't mated at the point in which I will be beginning my story, and we were unaware of our feelings for each other. I, however, was (am, and always will be) crazily in love with her (and according to her, she was crazily in love with me as well. Keh, what's there not to love?)

One night, long before Naraku was defeated and we decided to bind together for eternity, when Kagome and I were camping out close to the Panther Demon's territory, a peculiar dog demon dropped by, wanting to speak to me…

And that is where this story begins.

.xx.

Kagome was roasting two sticks of skewered fish over a small campfire as Inuyasha sat beside her, staring expressionlessly into the flames. They had grown very close over the course of the three years and, admittedly, they were much closer with each other than they were with Sango or Miroku. That was to be expected, though, as they were the first two in the original shard hunting group and had known each other the longest.

Inuyasha had his hands shoved into his sleeves, feeling weak and susceptible to danger. God, he hated the new moon nights but appreciated the fact that Kagome always stayed up with him—even when Sango and Miroku managed to fall asleep, even if it was for just a moment, on many nights of the new moon during their travels.

But not Kagome.

Never Kagome.

She always managed to stay awake.

"Almost ready?" Inuyasha inquired as Kagome glanced over at him.

"Yeah, two more minutes."

"I'm starving!"

"Well it would've been faster if you were cooperative during fishing!"

"You tried to splash me with water, wench!"

"It's called a water fight!"

"It's stupid!"

"You're stupid!"

"You're stupider!"

"Don't make me it you!"

"Keh! When I'm human? You ain't that cruel, wench."

Kagome snorted and muttered something incoherent (Inuyasha assumed it had something to do with the cruel comment he made) before turning her attention back towards the roasting fish. Inuyasha glowered at her for fifteen more seconds before she snapped her gaze at him and scowled.

"Here." She thrust a skewer at him. "Dinner is served."

"Thank you," he muttered and Kagome cracked a small smile.

"Aww! You do have manners."

"Keh."

Rolling her eyes, Kagome used her fingers to tear a bit of the flesh away from her skewer. "Talkative, aren't you?"

"I'm your regular chatterbox." the half-demon retorted and Kagome giggled slightly.

"This feels nice." Kagome blushed as she looked up to the moonless sky. "Just you and I again." Tilting her head to the side, she looked at her companion. "Sometimes I got kind of annoyed with the others and their constant interruptions."

Inuyasha snorted. "I was always annoyed with them. It was our battle… they just were tangled into it."

Kagome nodded in agreement. "You say it so rudely, but it is true. Naraku was after you, then me because I joined you. Because of the jewel he had punished both Sango and Miroku... although it's mostly your fault since I didn't come into the picture till fifty years later."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "You're still at fault wench. The jewel was in your body."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "And who wanted to tear me in half after?"

"Not me?"

"Idiot."

"Moron!"

"Jackass!"

"Human!"

"Then what the hell are you now, Inuyasha?"

"…Shut up. What's for dessert?"

Laughing, Kagome pat Inuyasha's knee before leaning over to her bottomless yellow backpack and pulled out a pack of Oreo cookies.

"Oreos?" Inuyasha's eyes widened in excitement and Kagome could only contain her own laughter. He was such a cute little puppy and as much as she didn't want to openly admit it to him (for fear of his attraction and love for Kikyo), Kagome loved him dearly and would do anything for him.

"Yes, Oreo cookies." She tore open the package. "I have to go home and restock on ramen and cookies again, so after we finish our search in the Panther territory can we go back to my era?"

Inuyasha merely nodded as he shoved ten cookies into his mouth. Sweat dropping, Kagome twisted open an Oreo and began licking the cream center…

A rustling in the bushes immediately caused the two to drop their food and reach for their weapons. Although Inuyasha looked rather pathetic, holding his rusty and dull sword, it still held as a good whacking device - plus, it shocked any full demon that came in contact with it. Kagome had picked up her bow and held an arrow in her hand, ready to strike the unknown in the bushes.

Another rustle.

"WHO'S THERE?" Inuyasha roared as he got into a tactical fighters stance. Kagome was just three feet to his left and a few inches behind where he was, her eyes trained onto the bush that masked her opponent.

Within a matter of seconds, a dog demon sauntered out of the bushes, his clothing askew and the side of his face trickling with blood. "Please…" he croaked. "I need water…"

Kagome's eyes widened. "Oh my God, he's hurt!" She dropped her bow and arrow to quickly run to the injured demon.

"Are you dumb?" Inuyasha roared, his voice resonating. The pure anger in his voice was evident and, if Kagome didn't know him, she would be scared for her life. "What if he's faking it? What if he intends to kill us?""

Kagome paid him no heed as she poured water from her water bottle down the demon's throat. Seething, Inuyasha stood close behind her in case her stupidity landed her injured.

Or killed.

If he had a choice between the two, he was praying for the latter.

Keh, only the stupid wench would help a demon when I have no fucking strength of my own. She'd be dead if it weren't for- what the hell? Cutting his thoughts off short, Inuyasha's eyes widened as he saw an all too familiar insignia burned onto the left side of the demon's neck as Kagome rolled him over. Sesshomaru's mark… So that must mean…

"He's Sesshomaru's demon." Inuyasha hissed as he dropped to his knees to help Kagome roll him over to a safe position that allowed him to continue breathing. Well, Inuyasha's sole intention was to take a closer look at the insignia.

"How can you tell?" Kagome looked up at him and he pointed to the demons neck.

"Sesshomaru's crest," Inuyasha murmured and Kagome's eyes widened, seeing the crescent moon.

"The same symbol on Sesshomaru's forehead." Kagome stated, more of a reassurance to herself, but Inuyasha nodded nonetheless. After they were sure that the demon was asleep, and not dead, Kagome and Inuyasha backed up a few steps. Streams from the sun began painting the forest and Kagome let out a sigh of relief.

Finally. It was sun up.

Within seconds, Inuyasha pulsated and his features returned to what they normally were: silver hair, fangs, claws, and dog ears. Kagome smiled wearily at him. "Can we sleep for a bit now?"

Ever since the two embarked on their own journey (post Sango-pregnancy), Kagome slept with Inuyasha in the trees for protection and safety, since they didn't have companions that were grounded to assist them in battle. Glancing down at the sleeping demon, Inuyasha nodded as he twitched his ears. "Sure, for a bit though. We have to find out why this bastard is half dead."

"Will he wake up?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah. His injuries don't smell life threatening. Whoever attacked him knocked him up pretty bad but he'll be fine."

Kagome merely looked at the demon once more before Inuyasha lifted her up bridal style and launched onto the highest branch of the most shaded tree in the vicinity of their camp grounds. Keeping her back planted to his chest, he leaned against the trunk and then allowed Kagome to get comfortable. As soon as he was sure she was, he wrapped his arms around her waist and she rested her head against his chest.

"For a few hours?" she repeated.

"A few hours," he confirmed and immediately felt her head lull. Damn she must've been tired. Idly, Inuyasha glanced down at Sesshomaru's warrior. His curiosity continued to rise.

What the hell is he doing so far away from the West, alone and injured?

There would be a lot of interrogation when the demon woke up, that was for sure.

Drawing lazy circles subconsciously on Kagome's belly, Inuyasha rested his head against the trunk of the tree and inhaled deeply. The scent of Kagome assaulted his senses and he loved it.

Kagome, his thoughts echoed. My Kagome…

.xx.