Second Chances

Disclaimer- Sadly, I do not own any of the characters from Inuyasha, as much as I might long for that luxery otherwise. I will have to satisfy myself daydreaming about the wolf prince and the hanyou I adore so much. First off, if you're not a cannon pairing kinda person, this might not be the story for you. Humor, angst, and adventure and action abound, but there's a reason I do what I do. "Second Chances" is in the Inu/Kagome section, but it's also a Kouga/Ayame fic as well, so I do hope you enjoy and furthermore I hope you adore the "twins and the triplets". I know I do.

They sat in silence, tension thick and heavy through the air as the demons and hanyous sat around the small hut, two particular demons casting the five younger ones a suspiscious and angry glare. Miroku and Sango had been asked by Kaede to help her take care of a quick matter in the village, and reluctantly the monk and demon slayer went off to help, leaving the others to find out the full story from the five strangers.

Kouga and Inuyasha didn’t agree on much, in fact... the things they agreed on didn’t even encompass all five fingers on one hand. But one thing they both did acknowledge and agree on was they they didn’t like this bunch of demons, and half demons, and even more so they wanted to get to the bottom of this entire ordeal as quickly as possible. Neither male had ever been one for patience honestly.

“Well?” Inuyasha snapped, crossing his arms over his chest, his ears twitched forward expectantly as he waited for some sort of answer from any of the visiting kids. The glare didn’t leave his face either as the white haired girl and the black haired boy exchanged glances with each other. Kaori shrugged, having run fresh out of idea and excuses for his father, let alone the rest of the group.

“You wouldn’t believe us, even if we DID tell you the truth.” Kaori stated matter of factly. He choose to ignore the death glare that was being sent his way by a very angry young wolf demon prince, as Keikan’s growl rumbled low to the rest of the demonic hearing range of those who could hear it. It was a clear and cut warning, but Kaori didn’t even acknowledge it. In fact, he completely ignored the wolf prince as he always usually did.

“Keikan...” Kaiya whispered, her amber eyes pleading with him as she shook her head. His gaze shifted from her brother, to the female twin, his icy blue eyes softening and the growl died in his throat. He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest, his white tipped tail snapping aggitatedly on the floor beside him.

“This is stupid...” He remarked in annoyance as his own brother placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Keikan... calm down. It won’t do anyone any good to get angry for no reason.” Kanan pointed out, as his brother sent the same cold glare in his direction. “And don’t give me that look. You know I’m right. You need to control your temper... Mother is always-“ He suddenly stopped, shaking his head in anger at himself. That had been a stupid slip of the tongue. Even more so because he clearly noticed the arch in Kouga’s eyebrow. But the boys remained silent, clamping their mouths closed in steadfast determination.

“I know...” Keikan snapped, trying to quickly finish the subject and change it back to something less... dangerous. “Look... this is getting us no where. And I for one have better things to do than just sit around doing nothing.” He snapped, rising to his feet at the same time.

“Sit down boy.” Kouga ordered in a serious and sharp tone that held more than enough warning in his voice. It said clearly that he would “make” Keikan sit down if the younger demon didn’t do so on his own. Keikan glared at his father, hating being here in this hut even more by the passing minute. He hated it when his father took that tone with him... nothing pissed him off more... but Keikan had learned at a very young age not to argue with his father or disobey him when he took that tone. So relucantly, the wolf prince sat back down, his tail resuming it’s aggitated twitching.

“Wow...” Koyuki giggled, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. She couldn’t help it... she loved seeing her father put Keikan straight. Gods knew he needed it. A lot. Keikan was always getting away with too much. Maybe... this younger version of their father would put an end to that. That very thought brought a proud smirk to her lips. It would serve his cocky ass right. Keikan needed to be taken down a few pegs. Maybe being stuck here in the past for a little while would be just the thing her brother’s needed. Besides... who knew... it might actually turn out to be some fun.

“Enough stalling... I want the full details... now...” Inuyasha growled, narrowing his golden eyes at the five in tern, his gaze staying slightly longer on the hanyou male and female across from him. “Well? Start talking...”

“What do you want to know that we haven’t already told you?” Kaiya asked.

“The truth for starters.” Inuyasha snapped back at her.

“And just who the hell you all are.” Kouga interupted with a low and angry growl. Kaiya chewed on her bottom lip, reaching a hand up and scratching nervously at one of her snowy white ears.

“There isn’t a lot we can tell you... all we can tell you is that we were asked by Kagome in our time to come back and lend you all a hand in your fight with Naraku. It was very important.” Kaiya answered, exchanging a look with her brother.

“So how exactly do you know Kagome? How do we know this isn’t all a trick? You could be working for Naraku for all we know!” Inuyasha snarled, his hand automatically sliding to the handle of the Tetsusaiga.

“Never!” Kaori roared angrily, his golden eyes burning just the faintest purple as he growled furiously at the thought. “She always told us you were hard headed around this time... but even YOU can’t be that thick headed!”

“What did you just say you brat?” Inuyasha growled, leaping to his feet, his grip tight on the handle of his sword. He was just itching to cut this dark haired brat into pieces. “You haven’t proven anything to me yet, so keep talking you little... I’d be more than happy show you the full power of my Backlash Wave.” Inuyasha challenged.

There was a sarcastic scoff as Keikan rolled his eyes, shaking his head in disbelief. “God... what are you... inbred or something? How can you be this stupid?” He asked. Kaiya growled at him, her ears pressed flat against her head as she bared her own petite white fangs at the dark haired boy, her growl soft but deadly. He blinked in surprise at her, before a slow smirk spread across his lips.

“Keikan... Quit insulting him...”

“Yea you flea bag... it’s a miracle you were even born, after how much of an IDIOT your loser father is. How long did he chase his tail before he came to his senses? I wouldn’t be surprised if you inherited his stupidity. In fact... I’d be surprised if you DIDN’T!” Kaori snapped angrily.

“Shut the hell up mutt!” Keikan snapped furiously, his eyes bleeding crimson.

“I’ve had enough waiting around for answers.” Inuyasha snarled, unsheathing the Tetsusaiga into it’s full fanged form, pointing the tip dangerously close to Keikan’s nose. Keikan, in turn, merely raised an eyebrow at the hanyou, before rolling his eyes and casually pushing the sword’s blade to the side.

“Put that away before you hurt yourself... idiot.”

“Keikan, knock it off.” Koyuki snapped, reaching her hand up and striking the back of her brother’s head. “I swear to god... whenever we finally DO get back home... I’m telling Mom and Daddy EVERYTHING you’ve been doing since we got here. You are going to get in so much trouble.. Daddy is going to kick your ass. He TOLD you to behave...he warned you. Just because Daddy isn’t here right now... technically... doesn’t mean you get to get away with it.” The red head fumed.

Kouga studied them curiously, his icy gaze locked curiously on the trio as he waited for any slip up that he could hold onto, something he could use to force the truth out of them. This certainly was getting interesting. It was weird... these three still gave him a very odd feeling... something very strange and very eerie. But at the same time, he had to admit... the three of them were amusing as hell. It seriously bothered him the similarities between the red headed female and the white ookami from the mountains. He’d seriously think they were sisters, both in appearance and demenior. She certainly seemed to have the same temper Ayame did.

Speaking of... he understood why he’d thought she might have been the white princess in the first place. They did look startlingly alike... just like the smart ass upstart with the white tipped tail reminded him of...

...Nah...

“Enough bullshit, you brats. Quit beating around the bush and start talking.” Kouga growled.

“We are telling the truth... we have no reason to lie to you.” Kanan pipped up, his green eyes roaming over to meet his father’s cold blue ones. Involuntarily he swallowed the nervous lump in his throat, trying to remain calm and hide his nervousness. Kanan was usually more collected than this... but he didn’t like the way his father was looking at him. He usually reserved that look for Keikan... when Keikan was up to something and their father knew it. It was a look meant to intimidate and get to the bottom of things.

Kanan hated when it was turned on him. He wasn’t the same trouble maker his brother was... but there had been too many times in the past when he’d been roped into one of his brother’s idiot idea’s against his will. It usually resulted in both brothers getting their assed beaten for doing something they were very much not allowed to do.

“Look... I don’t know what you want us to tell you...there’s not much we can... It could change things that we don’t - we can’t - have changed. Please try to understand that...” Kaiya began softly, pleading with Kouga to the best of her abilities. But the angry ookami wouldn’t have any of it. He growled, fangs bared as he narrowed an icy sharp glare on the girl.

“You stay out of this half-breed. I didn’t ask you to open your mouth.” He replied flatly. Keikan and Kanan both, surprisingly, began to growl low in their throats at their father, much to Kaiya’s surprise. Kouga, having noticed the verbal challenge from the boys, turned his cold gaze to them in turn.

“Something you whelps want to add?” He snapped.

“Don’t talk to her like that.” Keikan warned angrily. Kanan stopped growling, but nodded in agreement.

“We will... try and tell you anything you want to know... just show them more respect. We all came a long way to help... that’s all. I give you my word Kouga.” Kanan said firmly.

“You can start, by explaining just who exactly you all are... and no more fucking lies.” Kouga growled.

“And start at the beginning...How exactly you know Kagome? And why you expect us to believe she would ask you to help us? Not that we need any help, I will kill Naraku on my own.” Inuyasha vowed.

Kaiya let out a low sigh, shaking her head as she brushed her fingers through her hair. Her gaze fell over to her brother, pleading with him to understand. The look on his face, clearly said he was against what she was thinking of saying, and opened his mouth to protest... avidly.

“Kaiya... no.”

“What choice do we have? I don’t think...”

“Kaiya... no. Don’t even think about it.” Kaori snapped.

“Kaori...”

“No! If they don’t want to believe us, fine. But I am not going to ruin things because you want them to think otherwise. We don’t have much time if we’re going to change what we need to change... What we need to fix.” The black haired boy warned her.

“As much as I hate to agree with the idiot... he’s right. It’s not worth it.” Keikan added.

“But-”

“Fine... we can ask Kagome right now.” Inuyasha said with a smirk as he rose to his feet, a triumphant look crossing over his face. “I will just go get her... and if she says she doesn’t know you...Then that’s too bad for you.” He finished.

“Of course she isn’t going to recognize us, you dumbass. Ahe won’t even know who any of us are yet.” Keikan snapped.

“Seriously...” The black haired hanyou muttered, with a roll of his eyes. But he lifted his gaze, his ears flicking back lightly. “Kaiya... we can tell them about... What happened.”

“Are you sure?”

“That’s what we came to change, isn’t it?” Kaori answered, turning his gaze from his sister to his father. “The reason we came back, the reason we were asked by Kagome... was to save someone’s life.” Kaori replied with a sigh.

“Sango’s...” Kaiya confessed softly. At the sound of his friend’s name, Inuyasha grew pale, but quickly recovered as narrowed his eyes on the two hanyous.

“What about her?”

“We were asked... to make sure Sango didn’t die in the battle with Naraku. Since in our future - or rather our past - she did.” Kaiya answered. Kouga raised an eyebrow as his gaze turned to the trio of wolf demons.

“That doesn’t explain why these three would... supposedly... help you. How exactly did you say you did that anyway? What is all this nonsense about the future? And the past? There is only now.” Kouga snapped a bit aggitatedly in his confusion.

“Real genius this one is, isn’t he? Hope you don’t pass that down in your offspring.” Kaori replied with an arrogent smirk as Keikan, Kanan and Koyuki all glared at him, unable to directly respond for fear of giving far too much away than they should.

“Enough! Get back to the taijiya... what happened to her?” Inuyasha asked curiously. Kaiya and Kaori sighed.

“She tried to save her brother... but... She couldn’t. And she was too badly injured when Naraku attacked during her moment of vulnerability. We can’t really say what else happened... we don’t know. All we know is what Kagome told us.” Kaiya answered honestly. "And Keikan and the others came back with us to help. They're friends of ours."

"Speak for yourself." Kaori added sarcastically.

Inuyasha was actually speechless… and the twins were surprised to see their father in this state of clear and total shock. Their father never talked much about his old friend, but from the stories their mother always told them, she’d been a valuable friend and ally. Seeing him react now... it wasn’t something the twins were used to.

“Here...” Kaiya murmered softly as she stepped forward and held her hand out, in it a faded and torn pink sash. It was torn and battered, a clear sign of the battle it had lived through when it’s owner hadn’t. “She... Kagome... told us to give this to you. She said you would be able to tell it was Sango’s.”

Inuyasha silently took it, his gaze cold and hard on the girl as he took the torn sash from her, and brought it closer to his nose. When the stale scent of blood met his nose, he abrutly pushed it away, growling as he shoved it back into Kaiya’s hand. “Fine! Let’s say I believe you... that doesn’t explain everything else.” He growled.

“I know...” She murmered softly, her eyes soft as her voice as she smiled weakly at her father. “But that’s all we can tell you. I’m sorry...”