After Midnight

DISCLAIMER: I wanna own it. I wish I owned it. But I don’t own it. *cries*


Chapter 4:
Family


The villagers of Edo looked up from their work to asses the group of travelers who had just crested the hill; A miko in odd clothing, a kitsune, and two small female hanyou.

Fifty-four years ago, before a strange girl in a short green skirt appeared in Inuyasha’s forest, this group would have been an unusual site. But time changes everything, and the villagers just went back to work.

Inuyasha was splitting wood behind the hut he and Kikyo shared when a familiar scent wafted to him on the breeze.

‘She’s back!’ He thought as he dropped his axe and made his way to the entrance of his home to call his mate.

Inuyasha stuck his head through the door, “Kikyo?”

“Yes, koi?” She asked as she looked up from the herbs she was preparing to dry.

“Go find Sango and the letch. Kagome’s back.” He sniffed the air again. “And she brought company.”

Kikyo nodded and made her way passed her mate. ‘She has returned much faster than the other times. I thought that after the last visit we would not see her for years.’ The once undead miko mused as she made her way through the village searching for the taijiya.

Inuyasha bounded to the outskirts of the village and intercepted Kagome as her group passed the first outlying rice patty.

Sayuri and Akitsuki were fidgeting in their saviors’ grasps. They had never been to a village without their mother or father with them. The castle was fine, everyone there knew them and treated them with respect and kindness. But their mother had told them it was dangerous, being hanyou, to enter a village alone. When they saw what appeared to be a dog-eared hanyou land in front of them the girls began to feel more at ease. That was until he spoke.

“Oi! Wench, where the hell have you been?”

Kagome cast a side-glance at Shippou and considered bopping the hanyou on the head. Shippou gave her a look that said ‘if you don’t I will.‘ Unfortunately her hands were busy making sure Akitsuki didn‘t fall off her back. Shippou wasn’t much better off with Sayuri. The beating would have to take place later.

Kagome sucked in a cleansing breath and looked Inuyasha right in the eye. “Inuyasha, we’re tired, we’re hungry, and as you can see we have two children with us. So cut the language and let us get to our hut.”

Inuyasha’s ears flattened to his skull and he crossed his arms over his chest. “Keh.” He took a step to the side allowing the group to proceed, then fell into pace next to Kagome.

“Where’d you pick up the brats anyway? Like you need anymore strays,” he sneered.

Akitsuki stuck her tongue out at him. “We’re not strays.”

Shippou looked from Akitsuki to Inuyasha and recognized the signs of Inuyasha preparing to hit the girl.

He quickly broke in, “They’re Rin’s girls.”

This effectively snapped Inuyasha’s thoughts away from violence. “Rin’s brats? Well then were is the girl? How did you end up with them?”

“Inuyasha,” Kagome said with a sigh of long suffering. “I’ll explain it once we get to the hut. I assume you already had everyone alerted to the fact that Shippou and I are here.”

He nodded.

“Then I’ll explain it, once, when everyone is present.” She sifted Akitsuki higher on her back.

The panther hanyou gave Shippou a look of disgust. “I can’t believe you compared me to HIM,” she said pointing at Inuyasha’s back.

Shippou chuckled. “Well, maybe you’re not that bad.”

Inuyasha’s ears twitched, “That bad at what?” He asked the kitsune with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Kagome caught the look and intervened. “Cut it out, Inuyasha!”

She sighed in relief as they made it to the front door of her hut, which used to be Kaede‘s. It was still clean, since she had left the village only a few months prior. She was thankful that this visit would not involve scrubbing year old dust and grime off the floor.

Kagome gratefully lowered Akitsuki to the ground and slung her pack in the corner. After Shippou unloaded his pack they turned and headed toward the hut Kikyo and Inuyasha shared.

As the group walked through the door of Inuyasha’s home the smell of stew made their stomachs grumble. Kagome smirked at Shippou and poked him in the gut.

Shippou was about to retaliate when Sango grabbed Kagome in a bear hug.

Sputtering the miko tried to pull away, “Sango, air,” she squeaked out.

Sango immediately released her and blushed. “Sorry.”

“Ah, Kagome, you’re looking as lovely as ever,” Miroku’s violet eyes twinkled as his handsome face retained a look of innocence. He held his arms open for a hug.

“No way,” Kagome said chuckling. “We need you conscious,” she said turning to Sango and giving a meaningful look.

Miroku rubbed the back of his neck looking sheepish, but Kagome caught the disappointment in his eyes.

“Oh, Miroku. You know I‘m joking,” she said as she flung herself into his arms. The guilt started to gnaw at her stomach again, and as if he sensed it the monk gave his sister-friend an extra squeeze.

When she was released from the hug, Kagome turned to the fire to see Kikyo stirring a pot of soup.

The mikos locked eyes and Kikyo smiled warmly. She cast a quick glance towards Inuyasha then gave Kagome a look that seemed to say ‘did he give you the usual problems?’ Kagome nodded and rolled her eyes. Kikyo covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.

“Well,” Shippou started as he observed the silent conversation between the two mikos. “I guess introductions go first.” He gestured to the two-hanyou girls sitting closely together between Kagome and himself. “This is Sayuri,” he indicated the one next to him, “And that is Akitsuki. They’re Rin’s cubs.”

There was a chorus of greetings and a few general questions about Rin and her welfare. Kagome held up her hand for silence.

“It’s not good,” she said referring to Rin‘s situation.

“What do you mean not good?” Sango asked eyeing the two panther hanyous. Their clothes were a little torn and there was dirt on their feet. They looked tired.

Kagome started explaining. “After breakfast Shippou went to the river, and I sensed a demonic aura around our camp. It was radiating malevolence so I got ready to deal with it. Before I got a chance to I felt the energies of two young hanyou followed by five more youkai. I got rid of the first youkai right before these two,” she gestured to the girls, “ran into our camp followed by a group of soldiers.”

Sango gasped. “Soldiers? What were they doing near Edo?”

“Apparently,” Kagome continued, “kidnapping Rin, and attempting to do the same with these two.”

Inuyasha let out a low whistle. “Fluffy’s gonna be pissed.”

Kagome nodded. “The youkai that entered our camp was a snake and knew tactics. I think he was a scout. The youkai following these two were dressed in the garb of the Southern lands and there was a Captain with them.”

“A Captain?” Miroku echoed, his lips tightening in thought.

“Yeah, you know that if they just wanted to kill the girls they wouldn’t have sent a Captain. It was a retrieval mission. Unfortunately,” Kagome said with a small smirk, “none of them made it back.”

“What were that girl and her brats doing traveling alone through the woods anyway? That was stupid. Shouldn’t they have at least had that toady-thing with them?” Inuyasha scratched the back of his head in confusion.

Akitsuki piped up. “We weren’t alone and we’re not stupid! We had a whole bunch of guards that left with us from the Eastern castle!”

“The Eastern castle? Why were you coming from the East?” Kagome asked.

“We stayed there for awhile. Mama had to talk to people there.” Sayuri offered.

Kikyo began dishing out the stew but kept a level gaze on Sayuri as something tickled the back of her memory. “Sayuri,” the girl turned to her, “did your mother talk a lot with the Eastern Lord?”

“Yeah,” she answered slowly her brow furrowed, “and we weren’t allowed in to see her.”

“And that guy was fat and rude,” Akitsuki added.

Inuyasha chortled. “I think I like this kid.”

Said kid sent him a death glare worthy of Sesshomaru and folded her arms across her chest.

“Negotiations,” Kikyo’s voice broke the momentary silence.

Everyone turned their eyes towards her.

“It makes sense,” Miroku agreed nodding absently. “From what I’ve heard the Lord of the South died a few years ago, along with the rest of his family. The youkai that took over is young for the position. It was rumored he had something to do with the last Lord’s death. He’s been giving the West problems for awhile.”

“So Sesshomaru sent an envoy to the East for aide?” Kagome asked incredulously. “That doesn’t seem like something he’d do.”

“Why wouldn’t Lord Fluff-n-stuff just go himself?” Inuyasha asked.

“Lord Sesshomaru isn’t exactly a people person and I’m willing to bet that the East was the one who called for the aide,” answered Miroku.

Kagome wrinkled her nose. “If the East called for aide they’d have to be under attack.”

Miroku gave a bemused smile. “You haven’t been to many villages recently have you Lady Kagome?”

“No, why?”

“Because the villages to the South of us have been getting raided.” Sango replied. “Miroku and I have been busy lately. We’ve been called out to several villages. A couple times it was a rouge youkai, but more often than not it was a handful of soldiers. They obviously weren’t smart enough to change their uniforms.”

“But that’s an act of war,” Kagome said.

“Yes,” Kikyo agreed, “but only if the East can prove it. I doubt they’ve been able to or we would’ve heard more.”

A weight settled against Kagome’s side and she looked down to see Akitsuki and Sayuri were sound asleep. Sayuri was snuggled into Shippou’s tail snoring lightly.

“I think she likes you Ship,” Kagome giggled as Shippou blushed. “We should get these two settled in, and I know I could use some sleep too. How about we continue this conversation in the morning?”

The others nodded their agreement, before deciding to meet again for breakfast.

Sango and Miroku rose, and Sango turned to her husband. “I want to talk to Kagome. I’ll meet you at home.” Miroku cast her a warning look but saw his wife’s mouth set itself into a stubborn line. He decided to give up and headed off in the direction of their hut.

The kitsune and miko picked up the two sleeping hanyous and walked them over to Kaede’s old dwelling. Kagome rolled out a couple dusty futons in the back room and deposited the kids on them. As she re-entered the main room she noticed Shippou and Sango talking lowly.

“Gossiping about me?” Kagome asked in a tone of mock hurt.

She wasn’t expecting Sango’s blunt, “Yes.”

The miko furrowed her brow, “Why?”

“Kagome,” an odd look crossed Sango‘s face. ‘Why does she suddenly look so hollow?’ Kagome wondered. The taijiya seemed to be searching for words and Kagome felt her stomach perform a sick roll.

After a moment Sango gave a resigned sigh and dropped her gaze to the floor. “When are you leaving?”

The miko’s eyes darted back and forth between the kitsune and slayer. Shippou met her look with a strange intensity glittering in his jewel bright orbs. It seemed like Kagome was missing something?

“Sango, what’s wrong?”

When the woman once again lifted her head there were tear tracks running over her cheeks. In a flash, Kagome crossed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around her sister.

Sango struggled in the younger woman’s grip and Kagome was too shocked by her friend’s actions to loosen her hold. The last time Sango had acted like this had been when Kohaku had, momentarily, died.

Shippou sank down into a corner and watched the women as the taijiya’s angry words split the night.

“She died,” Kagome went stone still at her sister’s words. “She died and you weren’t here.”

The miko’s heart clenched and she choked back the urge to vomit. There was only one ‘she’ whom Sango could be speaking of.

Eight months after the defeat of Naraku, Sango had given birth to a baby girl. She had been about a month pregnant at the final battle, but blissfully ignorant of her condition. After all, the only demon noses strong enough to detect the scent that early were a child and a mononoke. One of which had no idea what he was smelling and only noted “you smell funny, Sango.”

The baby had not been healthy for the first six months of her life. The combination of stress, grief, and hard traveling in the beginning of the taijiya’s pregnancy seemed to have done irrevocably damage.

The little girl’s health improved later, but she was always rather frail. Sango and Miroku had been unable to conceive again.

It had always seemed cruel to Kagome that her sister, who lost her entire family, and the lecherous monk, who always asked women to bear his children, would be unable to have a large family of their own. But there was something far crueler behind it all.

In the first few months of the child’s life, were she had been persistently ill, Kagome had realized that the properties the wish on the jewel had given to everyone present at its making, did not pass down genetically. That meant the child would not have her parents’ ability to heal injuries like a demon, nor their immunity to sickness. Most importantly it meant that Sango and Miroku would be forced to watch their daughter age and die.

Kagome had done her friends a horrible wrong.

Sango pulled away from the shocked woman’s embrace. Her anger evaporated at the look of guilt and horror that twisted the miko’s face.

To Kagome the fact that she had been gone, running from her remorse, while her sister watched her only child die was like a punch in the stomach. How could Sango stand to look at her?

“Kagome, when are you going to let the whole business with the jewel go?” Sango’s eyes filled with concern.

“How can you say that?” The miko‘s voice was full of self-loathing. “It’s my fault that-”

“Everyone has already talked about this. I am not upset because I think it is your fault my daughter died. No one could have predicted the outcome of the wish on the jewel. My daughter led a good life.”

Sango gave a small smile and Kagome marveled at how resilient the woman was. ‘If only I could be like her.’ She hung her head. ‘I’ve been running like a coward.’

The taijiya reached out and tipped the miko’s face up. Years of regret clouded her sister’s eyes turning them from their usual sapphire to a dark navy. “I am upset because you were not here when I needed your comfort.” She paused and flashed a tight smile. “You were busy running the countryside like a Ronin.”

A dark chuckle escaped Kagome as she wrapped her arms around Sango again. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered into the other girl’s hair. “I’ve been so focused on running from things that I forgot there are things I need to stick around for.”

Sango nodded her head and pulled back to meet the miko’s eyes. “I’m not asking you to move in, just visit more than once in a decade,” the slayer said cheekily.

Kagome grinned, but she had to ask. Her words were hesitant. “Are you okay?”

The slayer knew the underlying question, because it was the beginning of where her sister felt she had gone wrong. “We’re all happy, mostly. Especially Inuyasha and Kikyo.”

The miko left out the breath she had been holding. “If he’s so happy then why is he always on my ass?” She hissed.

“Because he’s Inuyasha,” Sango said as she put a comforting hand on Kagome’s shoulder. “And he’s an idiot,” she finished with a half-smile.

A grin tugged at the corners of Kagome’s lips for a second before it turned into a frown. “How could it be a selfless wish though? What if it wasn’t? What if the jewel wasn’t really destroyed? What if-”

Sango cut Kagome off. “Kagome, I don’t know why the jewel carried out the wish the way it did, and I’m not going to worry about it.” She added with a pointed finger, “Neither should you. Kikyo and Kohaku are alive. We don’t age. I don‘t think you realize the good you did in giving Inuyasha and Kikyo a chance, giving me back my brother, and giving us all time to live and enjoy it.”

“I age,” Shippou chirped breaking the serious mood in true kitsune fashion.

“I expect that’s only because you weren’t fully-grown when it happened. Like Rin. But that’s not important.” Sango said waving her hands. She pierced Kagome with a look that brooked no argument.

“It’s over. Kaede confirmed the jewel was destroyed and any power it had left was absorbed back into your system. No one can use it. It’s not going to pop up in the hands of some maniac bent on world destruction.”

She paused and pulled Kagome close in an embrace. “You’re never going to have to go through that again.”

The taijiya’s words were soft but heavy and Kagome wondered. Could she really let it go? All the years of self-imposed guilt. All the worry that something had gone horribly wrong. Was it really as easy as just letting go?

‘Second chances,’ she thought.

Kagome was quiet for a long time as Shippou watched the two women. His mother didn’t cry like he expected, instead a look that could be called acceptance flashed across her face. Finally she pulled away.

“It’s not over,” Kagome said in a tone that raised the hairs on the back of Shippou’s neck. “It may not be the jewel but something is coming. I can feel it.”

“Whatever it is we’ll face it together,” Sango said with a fierce light shining in her eyes. “We’re family.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AN:

Indigo: I know, it was kind of a filler chapter. Not much action but I needed to set the climate that this story is taking place in.

Sessho: ::yells from back room:: I wasn’t in this chapter!

Indigo: Ignore Sess, he’s mad because his brother called him fluffy.

Inuyasha/Sessho: Half-brother!

Indigo: ::rolls eyes:: Whatever. Anyway... this answers the question about the jewel and why no one ages. I don’t care if you don’t like it. I didn’t want them to age because it would be hard for them to fight if they had to constantly worry about breaking a hip. I also didn’t want to make Kagome a demon because I think it takes away from her. She’s an incredible woman in my point of view and I hate it when she’s weak. I think it makes her even tougher to kick ass as a ‘wimpy human’ in a world full of beings a lot stronger than her.

Inuyasha: Feh! Like Kagome could ever beat me up without using the S-word.

Indigo: I wouldn’t be so confident Inu. From what my muse is telling me you’re gonna get yours in this story eventually.

Inuyasha: What!?

Indigo: Oh, btw the whole Kikyo being civil thing. I don’t particularly feel strongly about Kikyo either way. Sure she’s in Kagome’s way and Inuyasha won’t stop mooning, but she’s had it rough in life and this is a Sess/Kag fic. I figured she could be nice.

As far as Inuyasha calling Sesshomaru fluffy, I know it’s not normal but I couldn’t help myself. I mean the guys got an 8 foot boa-thingy-tail. He’s fluffy, and if anyone’s going to call him that it’s going to be Inuyasha.

Thanks again to my reviewers. This is turning out to be a long, long, loooong fic, and you guys motivate me to keep at it.

Well, that’s about it. How about a preview of next chapter?

Chapter 5: Guardian

“Even if you die?” The voice seemed to read Kagome’s thoughts.

It was a simple answer. Kagome didn’t want to die but, “Yes.”

“Very well.” The voice started to fade away. Before Kagome was thrust back into a world of pain where Sesshomaru was forcing an anti-venom through her veins, the voice said one last thing.

“You are worthy....Guardian.”

Kagome awoke in a cold sweat. She was laying in her sleeping bag on the floor of the main room of the hut. The fire had died down to embers and she could just make out Shippou’s form across the room.

‘Guardian’ The wind whispered. ‘....Danger.’