I got thtis chapter out before the end of this week! Go me! Well, enjoy reading!
Disclaimer:All I can do is dream about it.
New Companions
Chapter four: Reclaiming what was lost
The field was now eerily empty, but Naraku's screams still rung in sensitive ears. A drizzling rain was quick to accompany and sooth those ears. A small group stood huddled in the middle of the battle-worn arena at the base of a now somewhat squashed hill. Miroku helped Sango up as both Kohaku and Kagome ran forward to meet them.
"Ane-ue! Are all right?" Kohaku asked worried.
"Kohaku! How… when…?" was all Sango could say as she looked wearily at her little brother, wanting to believe what she saw, but afraid it was a trick.
"At the castle, where that baby was being hidden by Naraku, I remembered everything I did under Naraku's control. I vowed that I would destroy his heart. I know it's not enough to just say that I'm sorry, but I really am. I should have been able to stop him. I killed so many people. I… I can't stand it…" he broke off, his hands balled into fists to keep them from shaking.
"It's not your fault." Sango reassured him, pulling him into a strangled hug, tears once again brimming at the edge's of her eyes. "You helped us defeat Naraku by splitting his heart in two. And if that doesn't make you feel any better, I don't know what will." 'I'm just glad to have my brother back again.' Sango thought as she released Kohaku to look into his own tear filled eyes. "You did what you could, and I'm very proud of you. I'm sure father would be too."
"Wait." Kouga said hastily. "You mean to tell me that this thing-" he held up one half of Akago, "- was Naraku's heart?" At Sesshoumaru's nod, he threw down the baby, and kicked dirt on it with a disgusted look on his face. He slowly moved away from the mound of dirt to stand behind InuYasha, who was watching Kikyou. She had gone forward to pick up the jewel, now laying in the smoldering mass that was once Naraku.
"Here." She said simply as she came to stand next to Kagome. "We need to get rid of it as fast as we can, before another evil comes for it. The only way we can accomplish that is to make an un-selfish wish."
Kagome took the jewel and slowly turned around to face InuYasha. "Do you still want to turn into a full demon, InuYasha? After all, that is how this all started."
InuYasha hesitated. Did he still want to do that? What would happen if he did? He shook his head. "No. I don't need to be full demon the be powerful." He looked pointedly at Sesshoumaru as he said that. "We can use the wish for something better… like wishing for this baka to be dead." He gestured over his shoulder at Kouga, who immediately swiped at him.
"Don't forget that I still have two of the shards. As does that kid over there." He snarled, nodding his head toward Kohaku.
"Them hand them over! You don' t need them anymore!" InuYasha growled, once again pulling out Tessaiga. But that one statement from Kouga brought a problem. Sango paled. Kohaku only lived because of the shard in his back, and if they pulled it out, he would die. She did NOT want that to happen.
Everything was silent after that, minus the noises coming from InuYasha and Kouga's squabble. It was only then that it occurred to Sango that Sesshoumaru was standing in front of her.
"His life is prolonged by a shard, correct?" he asked, his eyes flickering from Sango to Kohaku. Mutely, she nodded.
"And if someone were to remove it, he would die." A statement. Obviously, Sesshoumaru disliked asking too many questions. Again, Sango nodded. Sesshoumaru dwelled on this for a bit, before he too nodded.
"Very well. Take it out." Sango stared at him, as did everyone else, the silence once again creeping up on them. But as he placed his hand on the hilt of the sword at his side, they knew what was to come.
Sango's eyes flickered to Kagome, then to Miroku, before finally landing on Kohaku. "Who's going to pull it out?" Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes to look up at the grey sky, rain- drops falling on his face, while Miroku looking pointedly at Kagome. She hesitated before coming forward, kneeling down and placing a hand on Kohaku's back. Her fingers gently found their way to where the shard was imbedded and inhaled deeply before pushing her fingers threw and pulling out the Shikon shard.
Nothing happened for the first few seconds, where breath was held, but shortly following that moment of apprehension, Kohaku shuddered. His face went white, his body slack against Sangos'. His taijya uniform was ripped and numerous cuts were seen. But before all this could end, Sesshoumaru had with- drawn Tenseiga and brought it down in one big arc above Kohaku. The tip of the blade still pointed to the ground, but was carefully put back when Kohaku once more opened his eyes. Sango let out a pent up sigh, and hurriedly thanked Sesshoumaru, who had turned and walked a short distance away.
"Well, we need not to do anything more here, do we?" Miroku was quick to break the silence with a cheery smile. "We should start to head back."
"Honestly, how long does it take for five males to gather firewood?" Sango burst out suddenly, glancing over her shoulder to glare at the trees. "FIVE!"
Shortly before dusk, they had stumbled upon a nice place to rest and clean their wounds before moving on in the morning. The males of the group agreed to go gather firewood, and before anyone could object, had set off, leaving the rest of them to make camp. Sango was getting a bit edgy and Kagome feared for the lives of the people around her.
"Sango… how about we go to those hot springs InuYasha was talking about?" Kagome asked carefully. "How about you, Kikyou?" Kikyou shook her head, a slight smile on her face. "Ok… guess we'll meet you back here, Kikyou."
Grabbing her backpack, Kagome and Sango set off. The trees brought silence around them, and without Shippou and Rin, it was deathly quite.
As they drew nearer to the spring, the air getting warm around them, they could hear the faint mummer of voices and an occasional splash. Kagome and Sango chose this time to cast each other a glance.
"You don't think that…" Sango began.
"I hope not." Kagome replied, her face paling somewhat.
However, their worries were answered when they exited the woods. There, sitting in the spring were the 'lost' males. Turning a bright red, she and Sango both slowly edged away. Unfortunately, a twig snapped under Kagomes' foot, drawing everyone's attention to them. Mirokus' face lit up.
"Sango! You came to join us! But…you're going the wrong way!" he began to head over to them, causing her to pick up a conveniently placed rock and chucking it at him. Kagome chose this time to grab Sango and together, they ran away as fast as they could.
"You'd think they would have at least told us!"
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To say that Miroku was disappointed was an understatement. He was sitting moodily against the spring edge, looking as if it was the end of the world. A large bump still remained on his head, the culprit now at the bottom of the spring. Kohaku threw him a pitying glance before returning his attention to the surrounding trees. Sesshoumaru had now moved as far as he could get from the monk and found interest in watching the leaves float around him. Kouga had ducked under water to keep from laughing and InuYasha looked as if this happened everyday.
"I told you this would happen." He said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"For once, the little puppy was right." Kouga spluttered as he came up. "You need a reward."
"Like what?" InuYasha started to edge very slowly away from him.
"Well, for one, we'll get you clean." Sesshoumaru said, and he had InuYasha under the water before he could even turn around. With Kouga's help, they successfully had InuYasha pinned down at the bottom of the spring and held there. The splashes seemed to have brought Miroku back to earth for he too helped.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of air, InuYasha had passed out and needed to be carried back to camp.
Upon arriving at the village, all Kagome wanted to do was go home. She wanted to have a privet bath, see her family, eat well- cooked food and play with Buyo. But knowing that a wish still needed to be thought of and made kept her from running off. That and InuYasha would hunt her down and bring her back over his shoulder.
Two small images came charging out of the Kaedes' hut and collided with two different people. Shippou ran to Kagome, and Rin to Sesshoumaru.
"You're back! What took you guys so long?" Shippou cried into Kagome's stomach. Rin had attached herself firmly to Sesshoumarus' leg and smiled admiringly up at him. At a loss for words, Kagome just smiled.
Sucky ending, I know. This is supposed to be the last chapter, but I seperated them into two different ones. So, expect to see a new one up soon!
R&R!
Fanofthemoon88