The Sins of the Father

~Sengoku Jidai~

Why did she have to fight with him again? Really, was it so terrible that the baka hanyou didn’t appreciate her cooking? Kagome sighed softly to herself. Once again, her marching off in a terrible rage had not exactly been the best course of actions. As a result, she had managed to place herself in one of her own personal nightmares.

She leaned against the wall, wanting to be somewhere, anywhere else but here. Not because she was in mortal danger – that was a daily occurrence, after all – but because of who she was with.

The shadow of her former life lay in front of her, her breathing erratic as she no longer had the strength to hold onto the borrowed souls she used to sustain her existence. One by one the bright white orbs left the body of the undead priestess, shining brightly with exuberance as they disappeared through the cave like walls of the interior of the Priestess Keeper.

The demon was also feeding off of their holy energy, but as Kikyo had been in here far longer than Kagome, she was no longer able to move without assistance.

Kagome turned her head and looked upon her incarnate somewhat sadly. She had once felt something akin to hate for the priestess, as well as envy. They were two sides of the same coin, after all – hate and envy. But as she looked at Kikyo now, in obvious pain as her strength slowly waned, Kagome wondered. Was it Kikyo that she had despised, or herself?

Kikyo had so many qualities that Kagome lacked, and she always felt inferior when in the presence of the undead priestess. The other priestess possessed an unearthly beauty that perhaps she might obtain some day, but at fifteen, Kagome could never see it happening. Her incarnate also had complete control over her miko abilities, while Kagome had virtually none.

But of all the things that Kikyo had and Kagome didn’t, the heart of Inuyasha was the one that hurt the most. Each time she thought of the two of them, a little part of her died inside. For as long as Kikyo was around, Inuyasha would never be free to love her the way that she needed to be loved.

The older priestess was starting to stir, and she turned to look at her with sad, blue eyes so very like her own.

“It appears you have the powers of a priestess as well.”

Her voice broke through Kagome’s reverie, and she sighed as she approached the other priestess and put her arm under the woman’s shoulders to support her. Kagome didn’t know what to do or what to think, but she knew that they had to get out of there or the youkai would consume them both.

“C’mon Kikyo… we have to move,” she said as she used all her strength to stand, supporting the weight of them both. At first, Kikyo resisted her efforts to move her, and placed her own bow in Kagome’s hands.

”Go, Kagome. Take my bow. You must attack the heart of the beast, for that is his only weakness,” Kikyo said as she faltered by Kagome’s side, before continuing somewhat sadly and in a quiet voice, “You should leave me; after all I am already dead.”
And suddenly she didn’t hate Kikyo at all, nor did she envy her.

She pitied her.

Kagome vehemently denied Kikyo’s request to be left behind, and used every bit of her rapidly waning strength to half-carry, half-support her former self toward the belly of the beast, and hopefully their freedom.

About half way there, Kikyo looked at her, her normally vacant eyes awash with curiosity.

“Why?”

Why.

The question had meant so very many things. Why do you help me, when we only hurt each other? Why don’t you go on ahead alone, do you not want the hanyou to yourself? Why don’t you leave me here, it’s what I would do.

Why?

She muttered something about Inuyasha under her breath, but the truth was that she couldn’t answer that question. Wouldn’t answer that question. Because the truth of the matter was as arrogant as it was true.

‘Because if I left you here, then I would be no better than you.’

~~~

~Tokyo, 2012~

Kagome held the red and white hakama in her hands, and fingered the fabric with no small amount of nostalgia. There was a time when she wouldn’t even consider wearing these clothes. But now, now that she was older and the time period that she was traveling to would be even less accepting of her modern clothes than the Sengoku Jidai, she had brought them out without a second thought.

As she changed into the traditional miko costume and pulled her long black hair into a pony tail at the base of her neck, she knew that now, more than ever, she resembled Kikyo.

To her surprise, she found that she didn’t much care.

Because no matter what she wore or who she looked like, she would always be Higurashi Kagome. It was a lesson that took her far too long to learn, and one that her former self had always known.

~~~

Kenshin looked warily down into the dark well, absolutely convinced that the kitsune had lost his mind.

“So you say we just jump in, and then a bright blue light takes us to the Meiji era, Shippo-san?”

“Hai, that’s pretty much the gist of it,” he answered with a grin. His kit raised one eyebrow in his skepticism, but did not comment on it any further. Instead, he took to leaning against the dark wall of the well house, where Shippo soon joined him.

“I wonder what is taking Kagome-dono so long?” Kenshin mused aloud to himself.

“Hmm… I think she’s saying goodbye to her daughter, and then she was going to change, I think. She said she’d meet us in here at any rate,” Shippo answered, silently musing on what Kagome planned on wearing. An image of her in her old school girl uniform came to mind, and Shippo had to repress a snicker.

There was a minute or two of comfortable silence before Kenshin spoke again.

“She sure is taking a while, that she is.”

“Keh. Well, I don’t imagine that Yuki-chan is all too happy about being left behind,” Shippo commented with a frown.

“Hai, I agree. I hope Kagome-dono is alright, that I do,” Kenshin answered, half to himself as he walked over to examine the old bow and arrows that Kagome intended to bring with them.

Personally, Shippo feared that Kagome was making a mistake by not bringing Yuki along. Yes, the young girl had a lot to learn and it would be dangerous for her. But it would be no less dangerous for her here, especially if they turned out to be unsuccessful. Kohaku could still be alive in Kagome’s time and they wouldn’t even know it, Shippo thought with a shiver. If that was the case, he may not have interfered in Kagome’s life up until now in order to protect the timeline, but as soon as they left for the past, her family would be fair game.

There was also the fact that Yuki could wield the Tetsusaiga. As it stood right now, they had no weapon capable of standing up against Toukijin, no matter what their combined skill was. Kagome may be of some help with her hamayas, but it had been so very long since she had fired one, there was no way of knowing if they would be as powerful as they once were.

Definitely, one of the first things on Shippo’s list was to acquire some weapons for the group. A katana for himself was not going to be too much of a problem, since he already had one hidden in a den not too far from the oni forest. It was his home for many years before he took Rin as his mate.

One of Sesshoumaru’s conditions for him to qualify as Rin’s mate was for him to “stop living like a wild animal, and find a civilized residence.” Of course, their farm house never really measured up to Sesshoumaru’s standards, but it was far better than the literal hole in the ground he had lived in before.

Never the less, that hole in the ground was still spelled to guard a few of his greatest treasures. Amongst them was the first sword that the Taiyoukai had ever given to him. It was old, but the blade was very good and had been crafted by an excellent youkai swordsmith. It was not of the same caliber as the ones made by Toutosai, but it would do for the time being until they could locate the old youkai, or his apprentice.
The second thing that he wanted to retrieve from his den was the set of fire rat robes that used to belong to Inuyasha. He didn’t want them for himself, but for Kenshin. His light pink gi might be okay for him to wear in a fight against an ordinary samurai, but not against a hanyou who is able to use the special attacks from those he has drained. He just hoped that it wouldn’t compound Kagome’s already volatile emotional state when she saw them.

After a few minutes, the door to the dark well house opened, and Shippo had to suppress a growl.

He knew who he was seeing couldn’t possibly be ‘who he was seeing’, since they had put her on a pyre over five hundred years prior, but he couldn’t help but snarl when a vision of the priestess Kikyo walked into the well house.

As soon as he caught the miko’s scent, he felt immensely ashamed of himself for even making the comparison, if only mentally.

“Gomen, Kagome…” he apologized, without saying what for.

She knew, however, and she offered him a small smile.

“It’s… okay Shippo. I know what you’re thinking – I’ve thought about it too. Actually, I’ve been thinking about it for the past twenty minutes. But I have decided not to let it bother me,” she said, her voice wavering, and Shippo narrowed his eyes at his old friend.

“Kagome. You don’t have to dress that way, if it’s not comfortable. I can merely extend my illusionary magic—“

“And have you wasting all of your youki so that I may ‘fit in’? Not only would that light us up as a ‘here we are, come get us’ beacon; I could not do that to you, Shippo. Besides, clothes are just clothes,” she said, somewhat flatly.

“If you’re sure,” Shippo answered warily. He caught the confused look that Kenshin was giving him out of the corner of his eye, and mouthed the word ‘later’ over to red haired hanyou in response.

“I’m sure, so drop it,” she said, as she tossed the heavy canvas backpack she’d brought with her into the well. “Well, isn’t this déjà vu… maybe I should borrow one of Yuki’s school uniforms instead, ne?” she teased, and Shippo snorted in response while his eyes gave her a fairly sensual once over.

“I, for one, would have absolutely no problem with that at all Kagome,” he leered, ignoring the dirty look he was getting from his kit.

Kagome blinked once, twice before she laughed loudly. “Boy, you really grew up to be quite the hentai, Shippo. Miroku would be proud.”

“Hai. I have learned from the best.”

”I think that we should be going now, that we should.”

“Don’t be such a baka, Kenshin, and lighten up!” Kagome said with a small smile, earning a glare all for her. She rolled her eyes and sighed, as she walked over to Kenshin in order to take her bow and quiver back. Once again, her breath hitched as he slowly brushed his fingers against her hand when giving her the bow.

“If you both are going to continue to put forth scents like that, I could just step outside for a while. I’m certain we can postpone for, oh, twenty minutes or so.”

“Oro?!?”

“Shippo!” Kagome whipped her head around in mortification. If she could purify with a glare, Shippo would be a nice pile of ash right now. Meanwhile, Kenshin’s face had flushed to the point where it was a close color match for his hair.

Shippo just laughed loudly in response.

“Well, if you two are done with your shameless flirting, I think I will go first!” He said, and at that moment Kagome really wished that she had a submission necklace on her old friend.

Shippo gently fingered the ancient silver locket around his neck as he stood at the edge of the well – and jumped.
When all they heard was a bang and a muffled ‘oomph!’, Kagome and Kenshin looked over the rim of the well with some concern.

A few seconds later, Shippo jumped up and out, and stood in front of them, tapping one furry bare fox foot in annoyance.

“What just happened there? It worked before… I don’t understand…. Hey! Kenshin! You try it, see if it works.”

“Um… I’d rather not, Shippo-san. The well appears to be fairly deep, that it does.”

“I don’t think he should, Shippo. If it doesn’t work for you, it won’t work for him. Besides, he wouldn’t heal quite as rapidly as you would if he breaks a leg in the process.” Kagome said, as her mind whirled around in thought. Why did it work for them before? Shippo had thought that it was because the necklaces were tied to her, but Kagome had thought that theory a bit… well, farfetched.

But something brought them here.

A particularly morbid thought entered her mind, and she paled.

“Shippo? Kenshin? Hand me your necklaces for a moment,” she said, not wanting to even think about the theory that she had.

They both shrugged their shoulders and handed them to her. She felt an exquisite pain stab through her at the sight of the rosary, and had to bite down on her lower lip in an attempt to keep from screaming. She had known he had been wearing it, but had avoided looking at it directly until now.

Kenshin looked at her questioningly.

”Kagome-dono? I’ve been meaning to ask you about this –“ he started, but Shippo thankfully put a hand on Kenshin’s shoulder and gently shook his head.

Kagome offered them both a patient smile.

“It’s really okay, Shippo. I have to tell him, because I think I know why the necklaces aren’t working for you both anymore – and Inuyasha is part of it,” Kagome said as she took a deep breath to steady herself.

Kenshin, seeing that she was in some distress, took the hand that was not holding the necklaces and squeezed it in an attempt to offer some sort of comfort.

Kagome looked startled for a moment, but did not pull her hand away. Instead, she returned the squeeze and moved to stand next to him.

“You see these necklaces… belonged t-to… Yuki’s father, I-Inuyasha before he… he died. They… came to mean a lot to… to both of us. They were… they became a symbol of our… love,” she stuttered, before drawing a shaky breath.

“The locket used to carry both our pictures. I… I gave it to him, once, as a gift b-before we fought against a demon who disguised herself as a Tenshi. The… the rosary… I… I can’t do this, I’m sorry,” she trailed off.

Kenshin gently pulled her against his chest, while Shippo merely looked on in silence.

“Sshhh… its okay, koibito… Sessha’s here for you,” he whispered in her ear, in an attempt to try to comfort her. The endearment came almost automatically, and Kagome snuggled a little deeper against him. He continued to mumble comforting words in a soft and soothing tone, while his hands gently rubbed her back. It took a few minutes, but she eventually calmed down. He held her in silence as she regained her composure.

Meanwhile, Kenshin was an emotional wreck.

A large part of him felt sympathetic for her profound grief. The same part of him was hurting deeply over Kaoru’s horrible death, and wanted nothing more than to collapse with her in their shared misery.

However, a small part of him felt angry that she should still carry such feelings for someone who had been dead for so long when she was now mated to him.

A slightly larger part of him felt insanely jealous of the inu-hanyou who was able to command such love and passion from this incredible woman, even in death.

But the majority of him was appalled that he could be such a self centered bastard.

There was also a little voice that said he was also a hypocrite, as he himself had held onto the pain of Tomoe’s death for over a decade.

And lastly, the whole of him was desperately hopeful that one day she would love him with the same intensity and passion that she had shown for the inu.

Eventually, her breathing evened out and she lifted her head so that her slightly swollen sapphire eyes were aligned with his softened violet ones.

“Thank you,” she whispered, and he leaned in to gently brush his lips against hers in a chaste kiss before letting go. She looked a little startled, but said nothing as she fell back a few steps and addressed Shippo.

“Shippo, you said that you dug these up because you thought that they were connected to me, ne?”

“Aa.”

Kagome sadly shook her head. The more she thought about it, the more she knew that her own theory as to why the necklaces worked was probably correct.

“It wasn’t because of that… it was because… when you first put them on… you see, if you remember we had buried them with…” she was having trouble speaking again, but Shippo’s eyes were widening in realization as he saw where Kagome’s thoughts were headed.

“Oh Kami… we buried them with Inuyasha’s ashes,” he finished for her. “The necklaces had been covered in them for centuries when I found them, and we were allowed passage through the well because in essence we brought him with us,” he whispered, as the color drained from his face.

“And you both kept the necklaces on when you showered,” Kagome finished, her eyes closed tightly in pain.

There was a moment of silence between the three of them, as each of them was lost in their own thoughts.

Kagome wanted to scream at Shippo for his audacity, but could not, knowing that he did not have an alternative. Still, he had completely desecrated Inuyasha’s grave, and now that there wasn’t an immediate crisis to attend to, what he had done was affecting her deeply.

Shippo for his part was mortified. How could he have been so careless? He should have removed the necklaces from both himself and his son as soon as they got here, and re-buried them under the Goshinboku. They could have found another way back, now that they had Kagome with them. He was sure of it.

Kenshin was just lost in the sheer morbidity of the situation. He had been allowed to travel to the future because he had been wearing a necklace that was coated with the ashes of his new mate’s former love. He felt a little green, and if he never saw the rosary again it would be too soon

Still, they had a mission to accomplish, and they now needed a new way to go through the well.

“Shippo… get me my pack,” Kagome said eventually in a small voice.

Shippo jumped into the well, and returned with the mottled green and brown backpack. He handed it to her, curious about what she had planned.

Kagome had finally managed to get a handle on her emotions, as she thought of another way to get them both down the well. The fact that her method would definitely pay both Shippo back for his wise-cracks from earlier, and Kenshin for his possessive behavior was just an added benefit.

In fact, the more she thought on it, the more she thought it was a penance that Inuyasha himself would agree to be more than appropriate for the both of them. Kagome’s eyes gleamed as she sent Shippo a wicked smile.

Shippo didn’t know what was coming, but knew by the look on Kagome’s face that it wasn’t good.

Even Kenshin was looking at her warily.

“Shippo, I have an idea on how to get you both down the well. But first, please take these and put them… put them back where you got them,” she said.

He looked at her skeptically, but gave her a slow nod after a moment, and disappeared out the door. Meanwhile she dug around in her backpack until she came up with what she was looking for.

They were both simple rosaries, one made with black obsidian beads, and the other with brown wooden beads. She had made them with Kaede a very long time ago, as a learning exercise, and she had all but forgotten about them until she came across them while packing yesterday. Thinking they might be of some use at some point, she had tossed them into her backpack.

The first one she had made was the black one, and while not quite as strong as the one Kikyo had made, it would serve her purpose just fine. The brown one, however…

Kagome smiled wickedly.

“Kagome-dono? Do you think those necklaces will work instead?” Kenshin asked, watching her with some confusion. Kagome’s grin was putting him on alert, and he could sense that she had something mischievous planned, but for the life of him he could not fathom what.

“Hai. And Kenshin? I think you can drop the ‘dono’, you know, considering…”

His cheeks flushed.

Meanwhile, Kagome focused on the two rosaries in her hand, subtly filling them with holy energy. They briefly glowed a bright pink, before the glow subsided. All the while Kenshin continued to watch her very closely.

She knew he didn’t exactly trust what she was doing – ‘and with good reason’, she thought. But he would get off easy… he was only getting the black one, after all.

“Kenshin? Could you come here for a moment?” she asked, her voice intentionally low and sultry.

His violet eyes lidded and he walked over to her almost immediately. Kagome wrapped her arms around his neck and placed a light and flirty kiss on his mouth.

She was playing dirty, but as far as she was concerned, this was payback. As she expected, his eyes fluttered closed and he attempted to deepen the kiss.

Her heart fluttered a bit faster at the first tentative swipe of his tongue along her bottom lip, and she realized that perhaps this wasn’t one of her better ideas. Still, she managed to get the new rosary on him, and she pulled back triumphantly.

“Oro?!? What… what was that for?” Kenshin asked her, somewhat in a daze.

Kagome grinned at him, but didn’t answer. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, but fortunately for Kagome, Shippo came pounding back into the well house.

“It’s done, Kagome… and gomen nasai for causing you pain,” he said, the regret apparent in his eyes.

Kagome nodded and opened her arms wide. Shippo immediately lunged into her arms for a hug, and Kagome nimbly slipped the other rosary over his neck.

When Kenshin’s eyes turned a yellow tinged with red and he began to growl at them, Kagome released Shippo and turned to Kenshin with a big grin.

“SHITA!”

He hit the floor immediately with a large bang.

“Oro?!?” The red head exclaimed as his eyes widened in confusion.

Shippo’s eyes widened momentarily in surprise, and then he immediately fell onto his back and clutched his stomach, as the kitsune laughed so hard that the tears were welling up in his eyes.

Kagome knelt down, making sure to hold onto her hakama so it didn’t brush the dirty floor of the well house, and looked straight into Shippo’s big green eyes.

“Having fun?” she asked with a malicious little smirk.

His laughter stopped almost immediately as he saw the look upon her face, and he raised one of his hands to feel the beads that had been so stealthily placed around his neck.

“Uh… Kagome? You wouldn’t….”

“Shippo? OSUWARI!”

Luckily for him, he was already on the ground, because the resulting crater Shippo left was definitely Inuyasha worthy, if not deeper.

Kagome affected a look of disinterest as she scratched her head. “Damn… well, I’ll have to get Souta to fix that when we get back; there’s nothing for it. Are you ready, Kenshin?”

Kenshin, having realized that he had gotten the better end of the deal by far, merely nodded his head in agreement. The two of them jumped into the well and were immediately enveloped in a bright blue light.

“Kuso,” Shippo swore as he pulled himself off the floor. ‘Gomen, Inuyasha, for all the times I provoked Kagome into sitting you,’ was Shippo’s last thought before he jumped in after them.

~~~

A/N: There! That’s for all of you who suggested that they should have submission necklaces LOL. Now, we only need to put one on Yuki as well . Okay, people – this was the longest chapter yet, so please be nice to me and review! For some reason, my reviewers have been dropping off the past couple of chapters. Am I boring you? Is TV really that good lately? C’mon, I need feedback! I thrive on it! ;)

Hope you really enjoyed this chapter; I enjoyed writing it. To me, it was a nice mixture of angst and humor, with a little bit of sexy playfulness towards the end. All in all it was a lot of material to cover.

The little snippets of history that I have been throwing in occasionally will continue. Eventually, I will throw in a couple for Kenshin and Sano as well, covering some key events in their lives. Each one of these snippets are important for character development, so you can see how they have evolved to be how they are. The interaction with Kikyo and Kagome was my favorite one yet. Unlike most people, I really don’t hate Kikyo. To me, she is a very tragic character, and I find the Kikyo/Kagome interpersonals fascinating. I threw that little snippet in so you could see how Kagome’s perception of her incarnation changed from when she was a 15 year old to now at 31. Very big difference. It was a fascinating perspective to write, and I hope I did it justice.

One of my reviewers thought that Kikyo was still alive. Alas, she’s very dead – she gets burned on a funeral pyre in the sengoku jidai. I mentioned it in chapter 2. But I may bring her out occasionally in flashbacks. Another reviewer thought that fluffy was dead (!!!) While I admit he is out for the count, he is definitely not dead. I revamped the last chapter that mentioned the Tenseiga so that my meaning was clearer.

FYI, since it's probably going to be another, oh, half dozen chapters before we actually get into any good lemony content with this story, I've put up a very nice and very hot little one-shot (this one is sango/kenshin) for your reading pleasure. It's called 'Full Circle'. Check it out and let me know what you think! I really think its one of my best ficlets ever.

Now to respond to a couple of reviewers, because I am feeling exceptionally long winded tonight LOL:

Coffee Gyrl: I absolutely adore you, you know. I look forward to your reviews; they always cheer me up, and your comments really help me keep on track with my plot. Sometimes I forget little details, like in this case the rosary thing. So this chapter addresses that issue. Thanks for pointing it out! And I saw your little note on my other ficlet – yes, it was kurama, and yes, believe me: we have not seen ‘my definition’ of a lemon yet in this fic. It’s a while in coming, but I will definitely try to make it worth the wait LOL. I’m thinking ‘hot spring’… I’m also debating if that’s where and when I want Kouga/Hiko to find them (just because I’m so cruel ;) ). And yes, the ‘Kenshin is too short to be a killer’ thing is a running joke ;). The girl that Souta is dating is taken straight from the Inuyasha episode that addresses Souta’s first love. She was a cute little third grader with wavy brown hair at the time. Yuki is going to go down the well, yes, but it’s a plot point on how exactly she accomplishes that so you are just going to have to wait LOL

Kuwa: Yes, the boy is the last surviving descendant of Miroku and Sango. Kohaku can’t really do anything about him because of paradox reasons, (since he’s also kagome’s great great great granddaddy), but it doesn’t matter because in this fic, kohaku doesn’t even know of his existance. Yasou is an incidental character who will only be in a chapter or two, but I’ll try to make him interesting.

Deep Serenity: The ‘romance’ really is going to be a lot more ‘flirting’ than anything else. Yuki’s a bit young… at least for now, she is ;) Not saying any more on it LOL.

Kura-kun's-lovr – Thank you so much, and if you do start one, definitely send me the link! There are far too few fics with this particular pairing.

Ryukotsusei – Kenshin is having a little trouble keeping his demonic instincts in check. He’ll get a little better at it, now that Kagome can send him slamming into the ground. And I cannot wait to get to write the Kouga/Kenshin chapter – I’ve got it all planned out in my head. I’ve even written part of it (of course it’s probably not going to happen for a half dozen chappies or so). Keep in mind that Kouga also thinks that Kenshin’s an absolute yaro. In the RK manga, Hiko is at first deeply disappointed in Kenshin and calls him his ‘stupid apprentice’. Merging the personalities of Kouga and Hiko is going to be a task onto itself.

3/8/2005 - For those of you who are interested, we have started a yahoogroup for hentai anime crossovers! Come join us! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hentaiXanime

Japanese Words:

Sengoku Jidai – feudal era Japan
Hakama – A miko’s outfit (in this case)
Youki – demonic energy
Koibito - sweetheart
Kuso – Shit
Kami - gods
Baka - Idiot
Shita – Down
Tenshi – celestial being
Oro – huh? It’s a silly little thing that Kenshin says when he’s confused.
Hentai - pervert
Osuwarai – Sit
Hamaya – holy arrow
Gomen, Gomen nasai – sorry, I’m sorry
Youkai – demon
Hanyou – half demon
Inu – dog
Kitsune – fox
Hai – yes
Iie – no
Aa – no, male specific
Sessha – I, who is not worthy; this unworthy one