Devotion and Sacrifice

By Danyealle

(fanfiction/angst)

Chapter 10

One Unhappy Hanyou

Although Sesshomaru would have loved for Kagome to be allowed to enjoy her graduation as well as the parties that came afterwards Naraku apparently had other plans.  The day before the ceremony Kagome began to get some very strong feelings that something was very wrong in the feudal era.  There were so extreme in fact that he was starting to sense them through the mating bond.

They had become so intense that by mid-afternoon they had gone through the well to check things out.  What they found hadn’t made their feelings improve at all.  Yes, their pack was alright, and thrilled to hear about their mating, but strange things had been filtering through to them from travelers.  It appeared Naraku was planning a big move of some kind.

Instantly Sesshomaru began to make plans.  Jaken was ordered to take Rin and Shippo to the fortress where the children would be more protected.  Everyone else would begin to prepare to leave the following day.  They would also gather all the information together and see if they could deduce where to start.  He and Kagome would return to her time and gather what they needed.  Her graduation was the following day at noon.  They would attend that and return right afterwards.  Everyone would meet at the well and they would leave right after the two arrived. 

Before heading back they sat down and had the others relate everything they had been told.  That way he and Kagome could hash it out between one another and see what they could deduce.

Once they saw Jaken and the children off, the two of them once more hopped into the well.

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As the night crawled by at what felt like a snail’s pace and the two of them went over what had been related to them, Kagome became more and more agitated.

Finally, just before the first soft colors of the sunrise began to appear, she could take no more.  Looking at Sesshomaru she let out a ragged sigh, “As soon as mom wakes up we have to leave.”

Quirking an eyebrow, he looked at her, “Calm down Kagome.  We’ll leave right after the ceremony.  It’s only a few hours away,” he told her in a soothing voice, trying to calm her down.

Shaking her head vigorously, she said, “No!  We have to leave soon!  I’ll just have to miss the ceremony.  Mom can pick up my diploma for me.  This is much more important!”

Eyeing her carefully, he thought for a minute.  If she was willing to miss a ceremony that meant so much to her and was the end result of so much hard work over just a bit of intuition then he was fairly certain there had to be something to it.  Sliding out of bed, he gathered his ‘normal’ clothes.  “We’d better start getting ready to leave then,” was all he said.

~~~~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later they were ready to go.  As would be expected, her family-her mother in particular, were disappointed by the turn of events but seeing the state the young woman was in they didn’t try to dissuade her.

When they came out of the well they found everyone already there waiting on them.  It seemed that Kagome wasn’t the only one who had some very ominous feelings.  Kouga had sent some of his wolves out to do some scouting earlier.  They had spotted Kagura and Kohaku a ways to the east so that’s the direction they headed.

A couple hours later Kagome began to experience a very familiar sensation.  Stopping, she concentrated to get a lock on where it was coming from.  When she was finally able to get a lock on a location a bead of cold sweat began to trickle down her spine and a knowing of dread pooled in her stomach.  Not only was the jewel shard signature huge but a very familiar aura accompanied it.  Though the being had done everything to conceal it, enough was there for her to know who was headed right for them.  Pointing straight ahead, she told them what was coming.

After exchanging a few trepidations looks they make a beeline straight ahead.  When they stepping into a large, open clearing there waiting for them was the arachnid himself.

Though he looked like he always did, cool and unruffled with a smirk plastered on his handsome face, inside he was seething.  No, he was most certainly not a happy hanyou at the moment.  Once again that damn little miko had thwarted one of his plans.  How he didn’t know but she had managed it.  One more hour was all he would have needed and her and Sesshomaru would have troubled him no more.  The well would have been sealed and they would have been trapped, unable to return.  Then he could have picked off the rest of the troublesome group one by one without much trouble.

Not one to cry over spilled milk, he quickly hatched a new plan.  It had been brought to his attention a while back that there were indications that the little miko and the mighty taiyoukai had become ‘involved’.  Now, standing in front of the two, there was no way to miss the mating bond.  Yes, indeed, this could most certainly be used to his advantage.

“Well, it seems that we all meet once again!”  he said to the group standing in front of him.  “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?  I do believe that the last time I had the pleasure it cost Inuyasha his life.  Pity really, he was always good for entertainment.”

The angry looks and sense of outrage from the group was just what he had wanted.  It all hummed against his skin, making it tingle in a most pleasurable way.

Looking at the little miko, his eyes sparkled and he had to fight the urge to grin wickedly.  “Kagome…  What would your beloved Inuyasha think of you now?  Not only did you bed down with his hated half-brother but you also became his mate.  And with him only being gone for only a little over a year.  My, my, my… You were eager, weren’t you?”  Before any of the shard hunting group could express their outrage he gave the signal and his minions attacked from their hiding places in the tree line.

As he usually did, Naraku let others fight the battle for him and he observed from the protection of the barrier he had erected around himself.  Like a chess master, he manipulated the pawns under his control to do his bidding.  Though he sent out attacks on all the pack members he concentrated mainly on the demon lord.  Not only was he the most serious threat but if he was killed it would probably end the miko as well.  To have the two ‘men’ she had loved destroyed before her very eyes would surly break her. Then he could easily eliminate the rest of the group.

With her heart in her throat, Kagome watched as Sesshomaru was attacked by wave after wave of creatures under the spiders control, unable to do more than watch as she used her purifying arrows against the walking dead Kagura was sending after her.

Knowing she would run out of arrows long before the wind witch ran out of mindless zombies she pulled the fang from it’s sheath and planned to do what they called ‘plowing the road’ in the movie Independence Day-eliminate as many as she could or at least keep them distracted so that someone could go after the main target, Naraku.

After unleashing the Windscar a very familiar voice tickled her ear.  “Aim for Naraku and hit him with the Adamant Barrage.”

“I don’t know how to do that,” she whispered back.

“Don’t worry, I’ll do that.  You just swing the sword,” a calm voice said.  “When you unleash it just stand still and don’t move, no matter what you see, alright?”

Biting her bottom lip, she just nodded.  Suddenly, she felt a pair of calloused hands wrap around hers.  Then the big fang was coated with a crystal-like substance.  Swinging the blade she yelled, “Adamant Barrage!” her voice was joined by a very familiar deeper one as Naraku’s barrier was assaulted by pieces of sharp, jagged projectiles, tearing it to shreds.

That very familiar bellow seemed to put all action on the battlefield into slow motion, or stop it entirely in some cases.  Almost all heads snapped the direction it came from.  Naraku, still under assault by the knife-like shards, stared at Kagome, mouth hanging open and eyes wide.

Kagome was no longer standing there alone.  Behind her, with his hands wrapped over hers on the pommel of the sword, was the very familiar form of a silver-haired, dog-eared hanyou.  It wasn’t an illusion.  It wasn’t an ethereal, ghostly visage.  It was Inuyasha himself, in the flesh.  He was disheveled and dirt clung to him but he was very much alive, and from the look on his face, pissed.

Keeping an eye on Naraku, Inuyasha inclined his head a bit and said to Kagome, voice soft and tender, “Let go Kagome.  I’ll take it from here.  Just hold onto me and I won’t let you get hurt.”

Immediately, she let go and spun around, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest, sobbing loudly.

Seeing Inuyasha, live and in the flesh, standing there stopped the battle almost completely.  There were several shouts of his name from stunned members of the pack.  Even the normally stoic Sesshomaru had a look of shock on his usually placid face.

Wrapping one arm around her waist, Inuyasha held the sobbing miko to his chest.  Holding the fang in one hand, he glared at the arachnid hanyou.  “Naraku, you bastard!”  he snarled.  Hoisting the big katana a bit higher, as though he was going to swing it one handed, he bit out, “Today you’re going down!”

Not understanding how the being that was suppose to be dead was standing there, Naraku decided that retreat was in his best interests at that point.  Surrounding himself with a dark cloud of his miasma he lifted off the ground and started to move away.  Before leaving the battlefield his voice echoed off the trees surrounding it.  “Welcome back Inuyasha.  I’m sorry I won’t be able to stay to see you welcomed to the realm of the living once more.  Rest assured, we will meet again very soon,” with that he was gone, vanished on the horizon.

With their master’s retreat his minions followed his lead, turning tail and receding back into the forest.  Disposing of whatever being they were battling, the pack members then made their way quickly over to where the miko and hanyou were standing.

Holding the sobbing miko to his chest, Inuyasha juggled the katana around a bit and managed to extract it’s sheath from her belt one handed.  Slipping it into the sash tied around his waist he then sheathed the katana and wrapped his other arm around her as well.  “Kagome…” he said softly, a smile on his face.

Sniffling loudly, she pulled slightly then swiped the tears from her eyes with the back of one hand and looked up at him.  “Inuyasha…” was all she was able to stammer out between hitched sobs.

By that point the rest of the pack were starting to join them.  Pulling out of his arms so the others could gather around, she watched as she tried to stop the tears.  When Sesshomaru joined them, she went over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest.

Automatically, the big taiyoukai wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.  Glancing down at her to make sure she was alright and uninjured, he then looked back at his half-brother who had his arms around a sobbing and babbling exterminator.  He then asked the one question they all wanted to know, “Inuyasha, how is you’re here?”

Immediately, Inuyasha grinned from ear to ear.  “That’s a long story.  When we get away from her and settle down I’ll give you all the details.”

Quickly, the group broke up and began to make there preparations to return to Edo where they would regroup.

While everyone was preparing to leave Inuyasha slid up to Sesshomaru, “Fucker!  First it’s my sword now it’s my pack and woman.  For someone who professes to hate me you sure as hell seem to like things that are mine!”

Looking at his half-brother, normal flat death-glare in place, Sesshomaru was about to snarl until he saw the grin on his face.  Calming down he just gave a “Hn…”   Honestly, he was off-kilter still at seeing the half-breed standing there very much alive.

Lowering his voice so that only the taiyoukai could hear him, Inuyasha growled, “Just so you know, you will be sharing Kagome.  I didn’t go through all of this shit just so you can have the woman I love!”

“We’ll discuss that later half-breed,” Sesshomaru growled back.

“Count on it!”  Inuyasha replied.