Reincarnation.

A/N: in the last chapter, I described the poison like the demon mark in “Ill Wind,” by Rachel Caine. This one, that same description will come into play, and the scene is very similar to one in that book, where they lay together, before David and Jo become lovers. Anyway. Here we go. Also, the Ifrit version of the poison comes into play in either this one or the next one.

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Chapter Twelve: My Blue Piece of Heaven.



Yash sat on the edge of the bed and stared at it, a grim expression on his face. It looked like a crude tattoo, a solid black star embedded into the soft skin of her back. Yash knew it was poised and ready, sitting on the spot where he knew her heart was. Kimiko stirred a little, and he heard her whimper softly in her sleep. He grunted and moved to lie beside her, wrapping his arm around her waist. Yash’s hand rested on the strange marking on his lover’s back, willing it to be still. Kimiko’s movements and noises ceased, and Yash relaxed. But his hand stayed over the mark as he settled beside her. His eyes closed, and he slept.



He woke up later in the night. Kim had jostled the bed when she jumped to her feet and dashed for the bathroom. She slammed the door shut, and he could hear her vomiting inside. He closed his eyes and groaned, knowing what this meant. He swayed when he stood to his feet, still exhausted, but he managed to make it down the hall to Minoru and Suzume’s bedroom. He knocked softly, knowing that Aiko was probably sleeping. ‘Suzume would kill me if I woke the baby,’ he thought as the door opened slowly. It was Sue, holding Aiko in her arm. “Rough night?” she asked him with small half-grin.



His golden eyes were puzzled, and Suzume knew what he was wondering. “Minoru’s basically dead to the world right now. He took some medicine to help him sleep, since he claims he’s been finding it hard to sleep knowing that there’s an evil presence invading so pure a being as Kimiko.” She rolled her eyes at that. Yash smiled. “You don’t think Kimi’s pure?” he asked, his tone light and playful.



She looked him up and down, grinning mischievously. “When she’s with you? Hell no, that girl ain’t pure.” Suzume laughed and bounced the baby in her arms gently. “No,” she went on. “I just don’t think someone as strong as Kimiko would allow something so dark and toxic into her system. She’ll know what to do to cleanse herself.” Yash nodded, hoping she was right. Then he remembered. “Oh, yea, I need a test.”



Suzume watched him curiously. “Which test?” she asked. Yash gave her a look, and her eyes widened in realization. “Oh,” she said. She paused, then nodded. “I’ll be right back,” she murmured before disappearing into the room. The door had almost closed before she returned and handed him what he needed. He thanked her and left her to her nursing. When he made it to their bathroom door without passing out, he knocked gently on the door. Kimi made a noise, and he pushed into the bathroom.



There she was, her head leaning on the toilet seat, her bare legs tucked underneath her body. She seemed so small in his giant, black Van Halen t-shirt. She smiled a little at him, her gentle, sky-colored eyes glimmering in the fluorescent light. Yash wagged the thin, white box in front of her. She groaned and buried her face in her arm. “You can’t be serious,” she told him, her voice muffled by her own flesh.



He chuckled as he squatted down beside her. When she peeked through her ebony hair at her lover, all she could see was a pair of big, curious, golden eyes and a small, sharp nose. His small puppy’s ears twitched noticeably in his short, silver hair.



Kimiko giggled. Yash raised his head and smiled at her. He knew that would brighten her mood. Her smile alone brightened his. He left the room while she took the test and put it to use. He paced a little in their bedroom, trying to keep himself awake and alert. He stopped when Kimi opened the door slowly. The look on her face said it all. As happy as Yash was to have another hanyou child with his lover, Yash knew this was a horrible time for them to bring a child into the world. It wasn’t Naraku that he was worried about; if that were the reason, they wouldn’t have chosen to have Minako. Yash was more worried right now about the effect the toxin would have on the baby. He had a right to be worried this time around, just like he had worried with Kenji, Hotaru, Yume, and Minako; unlike Kimiko’s pregnancy with Moriko, she and their hanyou children were connected physically to each other. The poison inhabiting his lover’s body, no matter how much she controlled it, could hurt the baby.



He knew that’s what she was thinking.



She sighed right then, snapping him from his thoughts. “I’ll be right back,” she told him. There was a pop and small flash of blue, and Kimiko was gone. Yash made a double take at the place she had just disappeared from. She hadn’t done that in so long, he had actually forgotten she could. She had many strange powers that he couldn’t even begin to fathom.

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Kimi knew her exit would surprise Yash. He had been amused at it when he was nineteen, but she had grown tired of doing it centuries before. Her ability to fly through other planes of existence had certainly come in handy during the times before mechanical transportation existed, but she knew that it wasn’t safe for a hanyou baby to be dragged along, especially while she was in such an unstable condition. But this was the only way she could find Kaji, she knew. She searched for his bright, burning light on the Second plane; he looked like a lit match, colored with bright reds, oranges, and yellows, and a tad bit of blue at his core. He had strength, but he couldn’t match her.



She popped back into the physical plane, standing right in front of Kaji’s physical manifestation. He grinned. “Big sister,” he said, and she knew from his tone that he had been waiting for her to show. Kimiko knew Kaji had seen her; she burned even more brightly than he did. He surveyed her with deep, crimson eyes. All of the earthly spirits’ eyes were the color of their flame, which was symbolic of their level of power. Kaji was young and fierce, and he was quite a stud in the physical world of humans. Standing before his sister now, in his drab apartment in the ruins of New York, he wore a simple, dark red shirt that matched his eyes and a pair of blue jeans; his hair fell in a messy, auburn pile on his head, stray strands falling over his eyes. He smiled a crooked smile most of the time, but he just smirked at his sister now. “What brings you to my humble abode?” he asked her, gesturing around them. She glared at him.



“You’re the only one here right now that I can trust,” she told him. “Please, tell me what’s wrong with me.”



He just blinked at her. “I don’t know what you mean.”



She stomped her foot on the dirty linoleum. “You can see it. I know you can. So quit playing games and just tell me.” He just stood there, smirking. She growled. “Tell me dammit!”



He inhaled heavily through his nose, his eyes flaring in frustration at her use of the Rule of Three. [A/N: Three questions/orders, he must obey/answer. Also from Weather Warden series!] “It’s a poison.”



Kimiko rolled her eyes. “Duh,” she shot back. “What kind of poison?”



Kaji blinked. “It’s of a spiritual nature, not physical. It will feed off your purity, darkening your soul, destroying what little bit of sanity you’ve managed to hold on to after centuries of marriage to that impetuous mortal of yours.” He said the last part with mild disgust and uttered an ancient curse laced with fire to make his disdain for Inuyasha quite clear.



“Well, he’s my mate, and he’s good to me,” she told him. “He’s a pain in the ass sometimes and stubborn as hell, but I know I can be just as bad.”



Kaji tilted his head and gave her a strange look. “You sound just like them,” he remarked. She sighed. “It’s understandable. I have been living undercover as one for two and a half millennia.”



He smiled a little at her. “The poison won’t harm the youngling, if that’s what you needed to know.”



She thanked him and turned to leave. Suddenly, he reached forward and grasped her arm, yanking her back from the Second plane. She turned and stared at him. “When you need him, he answers,” he told her. She watched as his aura glimmered; he was obviously hinting at something he wasn’t supposed to. “When you need saving, he comes swooping in. Come now, sister; do you really think that’s all coincidence? He has always answered your call.”



Kimi made a noise and gave him a skeptical look. “No,” she said, “he hasn’t.”



“Sometimes, he couldn’t,” Kaji shot back. “But Gods did he want to answer you. And he’ll never stop answering. Even now… surely you can feel it.” Kimiko could indeed feel it. It hummed and buzzed, and she and Yash could both feel each other’s emotions through it. It had only been closed off to contain only the two of them recently, this connection between them. It had closed off when Yash tried to take the poison from her… and he had nearly succeeded.



She hadn’t thought of it before. He didn’t have enough purity to take it from her; it shouldn’t have been drawn to him at all, let alone enough to leave an all-you-can-eat buffet like Kimiko.



She frowned. “He’s one of the Hidden, isn’t he?” she asked Kaji. The male Kami only looked at her, fire in his eyes. “That’s why you never approved. Because it wasn’t supposed to happen.” It all clicked into place.



Suddenly, the small apartment became cold, deathly cold. Kimiko looked around defensively, her small hands jumping instinctively to her womb. “Naraku?” she asked Kaji. He was younger than she was and better at utilizing the Sight to boot. But the male shook his head. “You need to go,” he told her, releasing her arm. He was staring through her now. Her eyes widened as she felt a strong presence forming behind her. She nodded to Kaji, and, with another pop, she was back in her bedroom, standing across from Yash.



Kimi shivered a little, wondering what would become of her little brother. Yash, sensing her distress, flew to her side. Slowly, his warm fingers grazed her collarbone lightly; his warmth echoed through her small body. She closed her eyes, sinking into his deep warmth, and Yash nuzzled her neck and shoulder, making her shake with longing. He wrapped his arms around her, and she fell into him. They combined on a higher level as Kimiko allowed herself to dematerialize slightly, and her spirit shifted over into his. He gasped at the strange, alluring feeling; he felt right then as though they were one. When Kimi exited him, they stared at each other.



“Did we just have spirit sex?” he asked seriously. She laughed loudly, her smile brighter than it had been in decades. Soon, he started to laugh with her.

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Things seemed to return to normal very soon. After Kimi’s return from seeing her brother, she explained what he had said about the baby and the poison. It worried Inuyasha that it could possibly drive her to insanity, but he bit back his concerns, realizing that she already knew his worries full and well. A couple months passed, and Kimi didn’t seem to show any sign of distress as she lived containing the poison and letting the hanyou baby grow inside her womb. The couple laughed, played with Minako, hung out with Suzume and Minoru, and went on crazy adventures with Moriko to battle random demons. Two months later, she was starting to show a little, but it didn’t stop her from sparring with her mate.



Inuyasha licked his lips and grinned, looking her up and down. Kimiko had tied her hair back, bunching it at the nape of her neck. It had grown longer, and now it was curling and waving down her back. She wore a slinky red sleeveless, low-cut top. It was shiny and soft and obviously made of silk. Her skin seemed so pale and smooth compared to the deep red of her top and the indigo of her blue jeans. She was barefoot for their exercise, and her feet seemed so small hidden underneath the flared bottoms of her jeans.



He hugged up close behind her, running the transformed Tetsusaiga along her waistline. She turned her head a little, giving him a smoky look that made his legs tremble a little. She smirked at him and leaned her ass into him, rubbing against him a little. “You realize that you always get much hornier when I’m pregnant?” she asked him in a deep, breathy voice. He felt his loose jeans get a little tighter in a certain area as he stared at her.



Kimi stepped away from him, drawing her own sword. Her smirk remained. “Let’s get to this, lover.”



He wiped his horny grin from his face and stood in a beginning stance, but he couldn’t wipe away all of his sexual thoughts. She came at him quickly, her legs barely moving beneath her. He stepped back, reacting, and met her sword, which was swinging down upon him, with the Tetsusaiga. There was a spark and a clang as metal met metal, and she brushed her hand along the warm bulge in his jeans. He jumped back a good ten feet, surprised by her intimate touch, and she grinned at him. He thought he saw her shine a little.



Inuyasha sighed and grinned back. “Watch that, love,” he told her.



“I’m too busy watching you,” she shot back, crinkling her nose a little. Yash had begun to notice that that was her facial expression that meant she was about to make a move. He met her mid-strike, and she laughed a little. “Bring it, goddess,” he whispered to her. Inuyasha knew that his lover had heard him. Her blue eyes flared suddenly, her look subtle and sexy. It exhilarated him.



He pushed forward, leaning on her. Her physical form could support his weight, and he played his strength against her. He spun her around, pulling her against him and kissing her neck violently. He turned her toward him again, and he shoved his lips against hers; this time, his kiss was demanding, needing. She kissed him back just as desperately. He felt a small tear graze his own cheek, but he wasn’t shedding them. He opened his eyes and looked at Kimiko. She was crying now. He stopped, and his boner faded away as concern for his mate took him over. “Whoa, baby, what’s wrong?”



She pulled back from him suddenly and ran him through with her long, thin blade. Blood began to gush out of the opened wound in his torso, and he blinked, staring at her in horror. His legs became weak right then, and he collapsed to his trembling knees. He clutched the sword and the wound, trying to put pressure on it enough to stop the bleeding. But he found that his strength had vanished; all he could do was fall over on his side and stare, pale and breathless, at the goddess standing over him.



Her tears had stopped. She just gazed down at him with her blazing blue eyes. She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Inuyasha,” she murmured to her lover. Kimiko had been contemplating this for days. “I have to know the truth. I have to know what you are.”



Yash fell over, his face pressing against the cold floor of the sparring room. ‘Please,’ he begged, ‘let this be some twisted nightmare.’



But when his eyes closed and his final breath left him, he didn’t wake in the bedroom he shared with Kimi. He didn’t awake in her arms, or even by her side. He awoke on that same floor, his clothes and the tile beneath him stained forever with his blood. Miraculously, his wound had healed, and he was not dead.



“You were,” a small voice said behind him as he sat up and inspected himself. He turned and saw Moriko standing there beside Kimiko. The two goddesses were regarding him with suspicion. Their expressions were similar to those who had been betrayed, and Inuyasha felt as though he were the one betrayed.



He stood and towered over his pregnant lover. “What the hell did you do?” he snarled in her face. Kimi didn’t flinch; she stood her ground, knowing he couldn’t bring himself to inflict pain upon her, no matter how pissed off he was. She just glared into his face. “You can’t tell me you never knew,” she hissed back.



He gave her a bewildered look. “What the hell are you talking about, wench?” he spat at her. A wild, primal look flared in Kimiko’s eyes right then, and she grabbed the front of his bloody shirt with her right hand and lifted him off his feet. He stared at her in surprise; he knew she had strength, but he had never seen her display it so grandly. He was a good 200 pounds, and here she was, a pregnant woman that was about 5”6’ and probably weighed about 130, lifting him with perfect ease. It shook Inuyasha to his core.



“You’re one of them!” she shrieked at him. “You’re one of the Hidden Ones!” She shook her head angrily, turning her look to Moriko. “I should have known,” she whispered to her daughter. Moriko gave her a helpless look. Kimiko shook her head and turned back to Inuyasha; now her expression was sad. “I should have known that hanyou aren’t supposed to be as strong as you… or as strong as Naraku. You’re both Hidden Ones.” She dropped Inuyasha carefully back to his feet before turning and leaving the sparring room.



Moriko led Inuyasha to Minoru’s small operating room, where she began to explain things. “Dad, you’ve been lying on that floor, dead, no beating heart or sign of life, for the last week. Mom and I have been keeping Sue and Minoru from seeing you like that while you recovered. We knew you would.” She glanced at him, then looked away abruptly.



He watched her as she continued slowly. “When Mom first came and told me what she suspected… I didn’t believe it.” She looked over him, worry in her fiery, violet eyes. “But… seeing you heal over this past week, as your body and soul were disconnected… then, right then, when your body was completely healed, your soul just came…” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’d never seen anything like it. It came… flying. It blasted through four different planes of existence as if they were nothing.” She opened her eyes, catching his confused glare. “Mortals don’t do that.”



Inuyasha’s mouth was suddenly dry as he thought about it. “So what does that make me?” he asked. The two watched each other. Moriko licked her lips, a habit she had obviously picked up from her father, and tried to smile a little.



“You are one of the Hidden,” she told him.



He said nothing. “Um… I hope you realize that I have no idea what that is.”



“You wouldn’t…” She thought hard about her next words. “The Hidden Ones are beings that are feared by earthly Kami. You are beings that were created by the higher orders to fulfill a certain purpose… Most of the time, that purpose is to either harm, kill, or control a powerful spirit.” He sat back as he started to realize what she was getting at. Inuyasha reached over to touch her hand, to comfort her a little… but Moriko flinched away from him, taking a few steps back. She shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Dad,” she told him. “I’m just… not ready.” She left the room.



Inuyasha sat there and thought. ‘She’s afraid of me,’ he thought. He looked at his big, rough hands. When he turned his head, he suddenly found himself looking at his reflection in the mirror above the sink. He growled a little, wondering how mirrors always found the right place to be for people to look into them during times of serious reflection. He observed his golden eyes; he ran a hand through his silver hair. It was still short, but just long enough now to fall over his eyes. He gripped the sink, thinking over the recent events.



“The Hidden are the only beings that can actually harm a Kami,” Kimiko said from the doorway. He turned and looked at her. “Why aren’t you afraid of me?” he asked her, his voice hoarse for reasons unbeknownst to him. He expected her to turn and walk away, but she didn’t; she approached him. Her steps were slow and cautious, but he was relieved that her scent was becoming stronger instead of fading away. He sank into it suddenly and unconsciously. Kimi’s fingers rubbing his cheek were what brought him crashing back to the real world.



“I know you won’t hurt me,” she whispered, her face turned up to watch him. “You were supposed to, centuries ago… Naraku was your backup, in case you failed to kill me or subdue me. But…” She chewed her lip. “You fell in love with me instead. As Kikyo. And… you opened me.”



Inuyasha held her hand in his right then and tilted his head in confusion. “Opened you?” he asked.



She nodded. “You opened me like a book. I’d remained shut, sealed tight for so long… That’s how you hurt me.” She looked at him very seriously; the look in her blue eyes was grave. “That’s how you killed me.”



“But that wasn’t me!” he cried out. “We’ve been through this! It was Naraku who killed you! Or…” He blinked, suddenly realizing something. “But… you never died. You just…” It suddenly occurred to him that he had never asked what had happened between the time she was Kikyo and the time he awoke and she was Kagome. And she had never told him. “You… loved me. And as much as I wasn’t supposed to, I loved you back. And I knew you were a way for me to destroy the jewel before something bad happened. But, then…” She sighed. “When I got you with the arrow, it wasn’t a spell. It was a real arrow, full of purity. You died, Inuyasha. But your soul obviously lingered on another plane until you were healed. I died with you, because of the open connection between us.” She held her chest and looked away from him. “It closed recently. I don’t know why.”



He snickered a little. “I thought you knew everything, child of history?” he asked her snidely. She gave him a look. “Not everything, obviously,” she shot back. “I had no actual idea that you are what you are until my brother hinted at it. And it got me thinking… that poison should never have been attracted to you. It turns out you’re just as pure a being as I am, though in a different sense.”



He smirked a little at her. “So…” he started. “I’m supposed to control you?”



She shrugged. “Probably. The higher end would prefer me alive and controlled rather than just flat out six feet under.”



She watched him expectantly. He blinked at her. “What?” he asked.



“Are you going to do it?”



Inuyasha was shocked. “I don’t even know how!”



Kimiko grabbed his hand and held it against her forehead. “Like this,” she whispered, and she pulled his energy through his hand into her. He gulped audibly as he felt the change; he felt his energy reach through his hand, into her core, and grab a hold of her own purity. He felt it yank, and her energy – and will – came along with it, flowing into him.



Inuyasha yelped and tore away from his lover, breaking the strange bond. “What the hell, Kimi?” he roared. She sighed and collapsed to her knees. Her breathing became heavy and ragged. She tilted her head and looked up at Inuyasha, her eyes a little blank. A small smile slowly formed on her lips. It had an evil, mischievous look to it, one he hadn’t seen on her face since the times she spent as Kagome. “What?” he asked her, a little disturbed by that smile.



“I think I know how to defeat Naraku,” she told her lover in a hushed voice.

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A/N: Wow, these are just getting longer and longer.