Reincarnation.

Chapter Two: The New Gang



They rushed into the large safehouse. The kitchen was empty, and Yash sniffed around for Minoru, Suzume, and Shipp. He turned to Kimi. “They’re in the basement,” he told her. Her eyes widened. “Is it time?”



“I smell a pup, so I’d say it is,” he answered.



The duo locked their guns and ammunition back up in the case against the wall. Kimi motioned for the gang to follow her through the house as Yash made his way to their basement to see how things were going. The gang plus Kimi turned when they heard a crash and a yelp, and they saw Yash and Shipp leap into the hallway and slam the basement door shut. They turned and looked at each other. “Wow,” Shipp said, looking at Yash incredulously, “and you willingly went through that 240 years ago?” The fox demon shook his head. “Amazing, man.”



The gang stared at Shipp.



“What the hell is going on?” Inuyasha cried out, angry and frustrated. “I want answers, people! Why the hell do you look like me?” he hollered, pointing a claw at Yash. “Why the hell do you look like an older Shippo?” he yelled, pointing at Shipp. “And why the fuck do you look so damn much like Kikyo and Kagome?” he practically screamed, pointing his claw right in Kimiko’s face.



Yash squeezed Inuyasha’s wrist and flung him away. He glared at the younger hanyou and returned the pointed claw. “Don’t you ever point your finger or raise your voice at my mate again, pup,” he growled. “You have no right. We rescued you out there, and I will be damned if you think it’s perfectly all right for you to come in here and yell at my mate like that! How would you like it if I did the same to your mate?” He glanced at Kagome. Inuyasha turned red. “I thought so,” Yash muttered, storming off into the recesses of the bunker.



“Wow,” Kagome murmured, looking from Inuyasha to Kimiko. “He’s a little scary.”



“Well, he’s had centuries of practice to get it down just right,” Kimi replied, winking a little. “Honestly, I like him that way. Makes me feel extra safe, you know?”



“No lie,” Sango chimed in. “He seems to be very protective of you… um… what was your name again?”



The woman smiled. “Kimiko,” she answered. “Nishi Kimiko. Mate of Nishi Inuyasha.”



Kagome stepped forward. “But I am Nishi Kagome, mate of Nishi Inuyasha.”



Kimi smiled. “But you forget: this is the year 2256. Nishi Kagome has been dead for around two centuries now. I am Yash’s new mate.”



“‘New’?” Shipp asked skeptically as he approached. “You and Yash have been mates for centuries, just not as Yash and Kimiko. But also as Inuyasha and Kagome, and Inuyasha and Kikyo…”



Inuyasha jumped up. “I never mated with Kikyo!” he hollered.



Kimi then turned and growled at her mate’s younger self. “Stop yelling, mutt, or I will silence you myself!”



“Why can’t I yell?” he growled back. “I thought Naraku couldn’t hear us in this military bunker of yours?”



“Because you’ll wake –” Kimi started to reply, but she stopped when she heard cries from one of the rooms. She sighed and gave Inuyasha a look. “See what you’ve done? You woke the pup.”



“The new pup?” he asked, puzzled. “Downstairs?”



“No,” Yash answered angrily as he came into the room holding a small child in his arms. The child was a girl with silver pigtails and chocolate eyes that she rubbed sleepily. She couldn’t have been older than toddler, and she clutched onto Yash’s shoulder as if it were life or death. She had small, white, furry puppy’s ears on the top of her head, and they twitched at the sight of Inuyasha. She turned her head and looked up at Yash, then looked at Inuyasha. Yash sighed and handed her over to Kimiko. She looked up at the perturbed woman. “Okaa, why are there two Otous?” she asked, puzzled.



The gang all stared at each other.



“It’s a trick, Aiji,” Kimiko told the girl. “This other man isn’t your Otou. Only Otou can be your Otou, got it?”



The pup nodded and rested her head on Kimiko’s shoulder.



“Inuyasha, Kagome,” Yash said, gesturing to the pup in Kimiko’s arms. “Meet my and Kimi’s daughter, Nishi Minako.”



¬

Night had fallen. The old incarnations were settled into their rooms, and Minako had been put back to bed long beforehand. The couple didn’t want their daughter hearing of their troubled past as they explained things to the feudal gang.



“When you thought you defeated Naraku,” Shipp began, “you were wrong.”



“Feh,” Inuyasha mumbled, sitting in his meditation-like pose, his back against the wall. “No shit, pipsqueak.”



Both Shipp and Shippo turned bright red and glared at Inuyasha. “I am not a pipsqueak!” they both cried out simultaneously in angry yet hushed voices. Kagome and Kimiko had to stifle their laughter; Sango and Miroku just looked at each other.



“When will we meet our reincarnations?” Miroku wanted to know.



“Probably in the morning,” Yash answered. “Suzume will need her rest after the birth of their first child, and Minoru will need his rest after having to deal with the labor all night.” He laughed. “Poor Minoru; he delivered Minako for us, but having to deliver your own child? Must be weird.”



Inuyasha gave him a strange look. “My thoughts exactly.”



“Anyway,” Shipp interrupted, giving them a look. “Naraku stayed in hiding throughout the time you guys all spent together, creating lives. Kagome, soon after you and Inuyasha became mates, you adopted me as your son, remember?” The two nodded, and small Shippo beamed with delight. “I was so excited for that to happen!” he gushed happily to his older self.



Shipp nodded, smiling at the memory. He shook his head, snapping him back to the task at hand. “Anyway,” he started again. “Soon after you took me as your adopted son, we all moved to the present day and stayed in the Higurashi temple, all five of us. Sango and Miroku became mates soon after Kagome gave birth to Kenji, your first child.” He looked around at all of them. “All in all, Kagome and Inuyasha, you two had three children. When Kenji was two, you had your second child, your daughter named Hotaru. She was born the same day that Sango and Miroku’s daughter Aiko was born. Your third child was another son named Yume.”



Suddenly, when Shipp reached this part of the tale, Yash’s expression turned grim. He silently stood and left the room. Kimiko stared at the floor, waiting for the fox demon to continue. Shipp sighed. “When Kenji was eight, Hotaru and Aiko were six, and Yume was three, something terrible happened.” He looked into the fire in the fireplace. “There was a car accident. Kagome was in the passenger side, and Sango was in the driver’s seat. The month before, Sango had found out she was pregnant with her and Miroku’s second child.” Solemnly, Shipp continued. “That child never saw his or her father or mother. Miroku and Inuyasha were devastated by the loss of their wives, and Miroku even more than Inuyasha by the loss of his unborn child; Miroku became a drunk and lost his life to his own wind tunnel only a year later. At that time, when Hotaru and Aiko were both seven, Inuyasha adopted his best friends’ daughter as well, and he raised the children as best he could on his own. Kagome’s mother and brother Souta helped as best they could, as did Kaede. And the kids grew into successful, relatively happy adults. Hotaru married a nice young man from Kyoto, and they had two twin daughters; she became a nurse. Kenji became a teacher, and he never married, but he had a love and passion for teaching that was unparalleled by anything else in his life, and he won many awards for it. Yume and Aiko, despite the obvious age difference, married and had their own set of four bright and beautiful pups.



“Of course, nothing good can last for long,” Shipp went on. “Sure, Inuyasha had quite a long time to be proud of his accomplishments as a mostly single father. He couldn’t bring himself to remarry after Kagome’s demise.”



He looked at the tired and worn-looking Kimiko. “Until he found you, Kimi, of course.”



She smiled. “Of course,” she answered.



“Anyway,” Shipp continued, “several years later, Naraku resurfaced. In his absence, he had grown in strength, power, and hatred. He destroyed everything, ravaged cities, tore families and civilizations to tiny pieces… Inuyasha tried to salvage what he could, but there honestly wasn’t much left to save. His children were all killed, his grandchildren, his in-laws… everyone. He was alone for another fifty-odd years, until we stumbled across each other, both running from the same enemy. We banded together, and we’ve been fighting ever since. Then, later, we ran into Suzume and Minoru, obviously Sango and Miroku’s long-awaited reincarnations… we helped them to remember their past lives within a month. It then took us three years to find Kagome’s reincarnation: Kimiko.”



*FLASHBACK*



She sighed when she saw two young men sitting at one of her tables. She looked at the hostess, Minami. “You know,” she said in a snotty tone, setting her tablet down on the counter, “that I don’t do hanyous and demons.”



“No one’s asking you to ‘do’ them,” the bratty hostess replied. “Just… please, Kimi. Take down their order and get them their food in one piece. You don’t even have to say anything other than, ‘What would you like?’ and ‘Have a nice day.’”



Kimiko glared at the girl and grabbed her tablet back off the counter. She swished her hips angrily as she approached the table. She pulled out her black ink pen and glued a fake smile to her lips. “Hi there. What can I get you boys today?”



They both looked up at her. She was stunned by the hanyou’s eyes. They were a bright, mysterious amber, and his hair was short and silver and messy. He had a small, pointed nose, a sharp chin, and a thin face. His skin was fair, and he was just… “Absolutely gorgeous,” she muttered, staring.



He was staring back at her. She blinked and glanced at the fox demon sitting across from him. The young male was also staring at her, but with widened, amazed eyes.



“Kagome?” he murmured, standing.



She breathed softly. His face was so close to hers now. “It’s Kimiko, actually.”



He kissed her suddenly, deeply, and lovingly. She kissed him back, feeling natural and right and perfect all at the same time.





She nestled into the curve of his naked body. Everyone was asleep, including Minako, and it was their turn to try to head into dreamland. He had one arm wrapped around her waist, and he nuzzled his face into her neck. She smiled as she felt his warm breath on her jaw. “D’you remember that song?” she asked him quietly, a small smile on her lips.



“What song?” he asked sleepily.



“That one, from that movie,” she answered. “How does it go?”



He chuckled breathily into her neck. “I really couldn’t tell you, since I don’t know what song you’re talking about.”



She turned her head a little to the left and glared in his direction. “That song. That reminds us of each other.”



He smiled gently. “‘A full-time lover and a full-time friend,’” he murmured softly into her ear, his eyes still closed. Her grumpy expression transformed into one of happiness. “I love you, Yash.”



He nuzzled her; she giggled at the tickling sensation. “I love you, too, Kimiko.”





A/N: sorry, I know, a little short. Oh, and the song they’re talking about is from “Juno,” which is an amazing movie and part of my inspiration for some of the scenes in this particular fanfic. The song itself is called “Anyone Else But You,” and it by a group called The Moldy Peaches. A great, acoustic song, and everyone should know/love it.



Anyways. I’ll update again soon.