Part 3: SILVER/FREEDOM

A/N: Free day so I chose freedom as the theme. This will be a long emotional ride, so get ready!

Thanks for reading the previous chapters and special thanks to the reviewers:

Boobie-Chan

Lalidra102

Purple Rain (Thanks for the encouragements!)

Hairul The Nightmare Beast

Killersupergirl

Sesshoumaru walked down the dark empty hallway of his home. As a youkai of his stature, he did not need much sleep. This left him with long hours to think deep into the night, and as often Kagura was prevalent in his mind. It had been years since the fateful day they had reunited and shared a few kisses in a parking lot. On nights such as these when sleep eluded him he often wondered what he could have done differently to spare them such heartache and loss. He remembered then what transpired mere hours after he and Kagura had parted ways.

It had all started with a phone call in the middle of the night.

As the lawyer to some of the richest people in the country, getting phone calls at three in the morning was not unusual for Sesshoumaru. He rolled over in bed, turned on the side lamp and picked up the ringing phone. The voice on the other end of the line was the last person he could have expected.

"Sesshoumaru... " Just hearing the panic in Kagura's voice removed all traces of sleep from his body. "Naraku… he found out about my plan..."

He heard a loud crashing noise behind her. He swore to himself that if the hanyou had laid a finger on Kagura, he would kill him with his bare hands.

"Find refuge somewhere safe. I'm on my way."

Once he gave his instructions he hung up. He did not waste time telling her comforting platitudes preferring instead to actually do something. He quickly rushed out of his condo and drove to Naraku and Kagura's house. He knew exactly where their mansion was. He might have kept his distance from the Onigumo couple these past years, but that did not mean that he did not know much about them, or rather about Kagura particularly.

The second he arrived, he knew something had gone terribly wrong. He spied an array of police cars parked haphazardly in front of the wrought iron gates. Their colorful flashing lights a contrast to the dark night sky. His heart skipped a beat once he saw an ambulance was amongst the emergency response vehicles. Kagura's bruised skin and panicked voice replayed in his head, and in that moment he regretted letting her drive away from him and back to her abusive husband.

Throughout history a silver bullet had been known as an effective mean to kill all kinds of creatures, and youkai were no exception. Especially when they received a gunshot wound to the heart. In the end they had not needed to go through with Kagura's elaborate plan to ruin Naraku. The silver bullet she had shot through his heart had put an end to all her machinations. Unbeknownst to the wind sorceress her husband had suspected she was up to something and was having her followed. As soon as she had arrived home he had confronted her about her meeting with Sesshoumaru and the kisses they had shared. Their argument had escalated to violence, and when Naraku's usual abuse had turned to threats on her life and promises to see Sesshoumaru dead as well, Kagura knew she had to stop her husband once and for all, by any means necessary. A well-aimed tentacle had crushed her fan to pieces, but the wind sorceress was not above using more human weapons to defend herself. After all, sometimes a silver bullet could be more effective than a wind blade.

Despite driving like a fiend, Sesshoumaru had made it too late to Kagura and Naraku's house. Some concerned neighbor had called the authorities after hearing a gun go off and within minutes the police was on the scene. Sesshoumaru had arrived just in time to see a blood splattered Kagura in handcuffs being pushed in a police car then driven away to a holding cell at the police station. The one phone call she had been allowed had gone to the one person she hoped she could count on for help. To her pleasure, Sesshoumaru had gone above and beyond her expectations.

Criminal law was not his domain, but Sesshoumaru had acquaintances in high and low places enabling him to assemble a legal dream team backed up by the best private investigator. Kagura's assets had been frozen pending the investigation, so he had footed the bill of her team and made sure she was made as comfortable as possible while she was held in jail, awaiting her trial. A special gift to a couple influent people in the justice department made sure her trial was moved up. Considering her delicate condition, he wanted to get Kagura out of her holding cell as quickly as possible. This of course was in the interest of the Ministry, quickly solving the murder of a well-known businessman and rendering justice would be best in the eyes of public opinion. Sesshoumaru had spared no expenses to ensure Kagura's defense and she had reassured him she would pay him back, and he knew she meant it. Never would Kagura let herself be beholden to a man.

While the two of them had found an understanding, which had brought them closer than ever, not everyone was pleased. Touga Tashio had not wanted his son to become involved in such a toxic murder case and attract negative attention to their firm. He could not understand where this sudden passion came to protect the wind sorceress. He had therefore done the one thing he knew was best for his family. Do his utmost to create a wedge between his son and the young woman he had become obsessed with.

"Why are you doing this Sesshoumaru? This isn't like you. Bringing shame to this family."

Upset by his son's behavior, Touga had summoned Sesshoumaru to his office to talk some sense into his eldest son. At the time he would rather be focusing on the health of his wife, so having to deal with the sudden rebellious streak of his once perfect Sesshoumaru unnerved him.

Sesshoumaru did not bother sitting on the chair opposite his father's desk. He simply picked up the newspaper the old man had thrown towards him and scanned an article highlighting the fact that their law firm had taken the infamous Kagura Kagewaki Onigumo as a client.

"Do you not usually relish when the press covers the case of one of our clients?" He threw back the newspaper on his father's desk.

"I am not in the mood for such foolishness, son."

Sesshoumaru noticed his father's tiredness and blood shot eyes. Izayoi was about to start her chemotherapy treatment after undergoing a grueling surgery. Looking after her, running the law firm and wavering the scandal Sesshoumaru was now immersed in were running him ragged.

"I told you I will represent Kagura and I will make sure she is acquitted."

"You give me no choice." Touga sighed in disappointment. "I had plans to step back and name you managing partner of the firm, but I am now reevaluating if you are fit for the task… If you were to give up on the wind sorceress and put this whole sordid business behind you, then I may change my mind."

Sesshoumaru carefully considered his father's threat. After all it was what he had worked for his whole life. The fulfillment of the life plan he had diligently worked on for years. But how could he give up on Kagura? Ten years ago he had refused to act on his feelings for her, leaving her and all thoughts of her behind. When she had been forced to marry Naraku he had not lifted a finger despite in his heart knowing full well marrying the hanyou was not her wish. For years she had let everyone know that her post high school plan had been to travel the world as free as the wind. In some of his adolescent daydreams he had accompanied her on that trip around the world. He had let her down in the past, and to his shame had almost done so once again when she had swallowed her pride and approached him for help. Thankfully he had seen the errors of his ways and had sworn to help her. He still regretted his lack of decisiveness. If he had taken Kagura away from Naraku from the first she would not have almost been killed neither would she currently be sitting in a jail cell waiting to be tried for murder. He had promised to himself he would not waver anymore. It was time to make a new life plan, one that allowed him to have his heart's true desire, Kagura.

"Do as you see fit father."

With a respectful bow he took his leave, He had a standing appointment he did not want to miss. As soon as he closed the door to his father's office he heard a loud crashing noise. He guessed that in a fit of rage Touga must have thrown the ornamental porcelain and silver vase Izayoi had gifted him on their first anniversary. For over thirty years it had been displayed on the older demon's desk. Sesshoumaru knew his father would come to regret his uncontrolled action. Regret was an emotion Sesshoumaru himself had become all too accustomed to.

The bitter taste of regret tinged with rage had been most prevalent when while she had still been behind bars, awaiting her trial, Kagura had confessed to him about the horrific circumstances surrounding the conception of her child. If she had not already killed Naraku, Sesshoumaru knew then that he would have done it.

He hated visiting Kagura, yet dutifully every 48 hours he made the trip to the edge of town and went through all the security screenings to go visit his client. The meeting rooms had just a table and two chairs. It could have looked as any cheap conference room except for the bars on the windows, the reinforced doors and the massive youkai standing guard to make sure they followed the security rules. The wind was meant to be free and seeing its mistress locked down hurt Sesshoumaru's heart.

"How are you?" He longed to hold her hand, caress her cheek or kiss her lips, but physical contact with inmates was forbidden.

"Doing okay, just have some back pain." She absentmindedly ran her hand over the growing bulge of her stomach. She had never voiced it out loud, but Sesshoumaru knew she was terrified of the prospect of giving birth while imprisoned. That was not something he would allow to happen.

"I've been working on that statement you asked."

She slid a legal pad towards him. He noticed she had filled up several pages with her writing. A part of him was eager to read it so as to find out what her life had been like before they reunited, but a much larger part was loath to read about her life with Naraku.

"I never told you how I came to marry Naraku."

He flinched. "I never asked, I know the broad strokes."

"It was either Kanna or me. Father was convinced the only way to seal his deal with Naraku was to give him one of his daughters. Kanna was fucking sixteen. No way was I going to let her be married off to some forty something hanyou, so I volunteered."

Sesshoumaru was appalled. He wanted to comment, but he stayed his mouth, he could tell Kagura had much on her mind.

"In the beginning, for the first couple of years the marriage wasn't so bad. He didn't care about me and let me do as I wished. I even got to travel some… but then I guess in his fucked up way he started having feelings for me. That's when he started restricting my movements and telling me what to do, how to dress, what to eat. He wanted to control me fully, but I wouldn't let him, so he started hitting me. After that, I tried to leave him, but he told me he'd just have dad give him Kanna instead. She's my baby sister I couldn't have her be stuck in that living hell. She's not like me, she wouldn't have fought back. She would've taken it until he killed her."

She paused as a shudder went through her. "These past few years we got into fights more often. Naraku was strong even for a hanyou, and I wasn't always able to fight him back. He loved using his tentacles to restrain me, and when he knew that physical pain was not enough of a punishment, he would strip me naked and…" She choked. She wanted to tell Sesshoumaru all about what had happened to her. She needed him to know before he embarked on something that he would not be able to handle.

"You don't have to talk about it." He knew what she was about to confess and a part of him did not want to hear it.

"I do. It helps me, in a way." She sent him a wan smile. "Once father died I co-inherited the company with Kanna. I knew I would finally be able to get away without having to fear Naraku getting his hands on her. I offered to pay him back for all the money he ever gave dad in exchange of a divorce, but he refused. He said I was his most prized possession. That's what he thought I was, a fucking possession he could do as he wanted with, in his fucked up mind I was his to control, to beat up, and even to rape."

A strangled sob escaped her throat. "He didn't plan this." She ran her hand over her stomach. "He tried to be careful, but sometimes he got too carried away. A few months ago I realized I was pregnant. I knew I needed to get out once and for all. He was enraged, accused me of getting pregnant on purpose. I guess he hated the thought of sharing me with another being. His attacks were increasing in violence, and I have no doubts he would have killed me had I not done something about it. Even knowing I would get locked up in here killing Naraku was worth it. The bastard got exactly what he fucking deserved. I just regret not doing it sooner."

Sesshoumaru reached across the table to cradle Kagura's hands in his. At the moment he could care less that he was violating jail rules. He felt the gaze of the guard fixing him, and Sesshoumaru turned back to send the youkai a frozen withering glare, silently daring him to prevent him from offering comfort to the hurting woman. The guard took a few steps back and leaned back towards the door, giving them as much privacy as possible.

Thinking about the years of violence Kagura had survived and seeing how despite this she had retained her strength and her courage awed him. As he had guessed, Naraku had done his best to extinguish Kagura, but he had failed. She had remained strong and brave and he admired and loved her all the more for it. Sesshoumaru then vowed he would do everything in his power to prove her actions were legitimate self-defense and would see her free once and for all.

"Soon you will be free. I will make sure of it."

She sent him a small smile and squeezed his hands. "I know you will. I trust you."

His determination had enraged Touga. In the end Sesshoumaru had turned down his father's offer, refusing to give into his ultimatum. He had chosen Kagura over the fulfillment of his life long plan. How could he be scared of giving into his feelings and facing the consequences of his love for her when she had been so strong for so long. She had been right when she had called him a coward when they had first reunited. For too long he had been scared of straying from the path that he had set for himself, but no more. He was done letting indecisiveness and fear rule his actions. He would do as he wished and damn the consequences.

He had never told a soul, but it had saddened him that his father had refused to consider naming him his heir once Kagura and the scandal she was trailing reared its head. He had wanted Touga to find him worthy for all the work he had put in over the years, regardless of the woman he had chosen to put everything on the line for.

Touga's incapacity to appreciate his worth was not a thought Sesshoumaru wanted to explore this instant. Thinking back on the trial and the many tribulations that he and Kagura had had to go through always made him maudlin. He shook his head, ridding his mind of such painful memories.

There were many other things he would rather be thinking about in this present moment. A hint of silver caught his eyes, and before he could restrain it, a small smile crept at the corner of his lips. Often when they lay in bed, Kagura said his hair looked like spun silver. He had never noticed. Then again usually when they were in bed he was too busy staring at her.

The only light in the room was the sliver of moonlight coming from the window, but his youkai senses enabled him to see properly in the darkness. He stared at the small body curled in a tight ball under the covers, dark silver wavy hair peeking from the light green blanket under which the little boy was buried. A warm feeling spread through Sesshoumaru's chest. He guessed his wife was right. There was just something magnificent about silver hair in the moonlight.

"If you wake them up, I will murder you. I've already buried one husband what's one more?" The wind sorceress whispered to her husband upon tiptoeing in the children's room. That Kagura could make such a joke showed how far she had come.

A jury may have found her 'not guilty' of murdering her husband due to self-defense, but the investigation and trial had imposed a toll on her. Being incarcerated while pregnant had been a hardship of its own, but the media delving into all aspects of her life and past to print any rumor they could find a hint of had affected her greatly. She had felt completely powerless. Being locked up she had not been able to answer to all these rumors, so she had had to watch in silence as a twisted version of her life had become front-page news. The 'murdering wind witch' had become a nickname bestowed on her by some tabloid. People became obsessed in learning more about the cold-blooded woman who had shot her husband clean through the heart. Sure, her legal team had managed to shut up the most vicious news outlets with threats of suing them for slender, but still cruel untrue rumors spread all over the internet.

The tide of public opinion had only turned in Kagura's favor after she had agreed to testify in graphic detail in open court about the abuse, physical, emotional and sexual she had suffered at the hands of her husband. The graphic pictures taken by the medical examiner's team the day of her arrest had perfectly illustrated her testimony. Naraku's secretary and some other employees had agreed to testify as well about the abuse they had been subjected to by the man known to many until then as a pillar of society. Kagura to this day did not know how Sesshoumaru had managed to convince these people to testify on her behalf, but she knew that their corroborating stories had been crucial in changing the opinion the jury and the public had of her. Overnight she had gone from the reviled 'murdering wind witch' to the poster woman for the fight against domestic abuse with the support of youkai women's rights groups. It still bothered her that to this day an internet search could bring up some leaked pictures of her battered bruised body taken at the hospital at the time of her arrest.

Sesshoumaru's people were good and they had helped Kagura build her public persona and overhaul her media presence. Now years later, the 'murdering wind witch' was long forgotten. Profits from her real estate company had funded a charitable foundation known for the generosity of its proprietress. At least now articles written about the wind sorceress echoed the fantastic work her foundation was doing to help those in need.

"The children will not wake up." Sesshoumaru responded to his wife's concerns. His gaze switched from his sleeping silver-haired son to the other bed where his daughter slept.

He had never voiced it aloud but before the birth of the little girl a question had plagued his mind. Loving Kagura was a given, but would he be able to love her child? A child conceived through an act of abject violence. A constant reminder of Kagura's late husband; the monster who had almost put out her fire? When Kagura had given birth Sesshoumaru had been by her side. He had been one of the first ones to hold the squalling newborn. The second he had held the little girl in his arms all of these concerns had flown out the door. The tuff of black curls on her head and the light red colored unfocused eyes were all Kagura. How could he not love her too?

He had feared that Kagura would not have as easy a time to accept the child considering the circumstances of her conception, but that had never happened. Kagura had never taken out her hatred of Naraku on the child she had given birth to. In fact she had never referred to the little girl as anything other than Sesshoumaru's daughter. He had been honored when she had written his name as the father on the birth certificate. By then they had quietly married and Kagura had had her last name legally changed from Onigumo to Tashio; thus shedding what she had considered to be her last link to Naraku.

His wife walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face against his back, breathing in his scent. She loved doing that. He had never asked her but he knew it was her way of seeking comfort and reassurance. Not that she would ever have to wonder. Only death would tear him apart from her now.

"Just making sure Momo was sound asleep."

Their daughter's name was Rin Tashio but the nickname Momo had stuck. Not only was she as sweet as her namesake fruit, but as she grew her eyes had remained peach colored, a couple shades different from her mother's ruby orbs.

"Don't worry. Her tummy is all better." Kagura broke apart from him and lovingly hitched up the blankets higher on their daughter's thin shoulders. At almost six years old, she was growing much too fast to her parents' liking. Kagura then switched side to gently push back a silver curl out of their son's closed eyes. Gin needed a haircut but his mother loved his wavy silver hair too much to chop it off.

That sweet motherly side was not something Sesshoumaru would have expected to see in Kagura. Long gone was the brash hellion who had captured his heart so many years ago. Leaving behind a loving wife and doting mother. Not that he was much better, at only six and four years old both of their children knew how to wrap their two parents around theirs little fingers.

"Alright, come back to bed. Let's try to get some rest before the little monsters wake up. I've barely seen you all week because of that stupid case you were working on." Kagura paused to press a quick kiss to her husband's lips. "I thought being the boss meant you wouldn't have to work so fucking much."

Her gentle teasing reminded him he indeed needed to spend some quality time with his family. Silently watching over them as they slept did not count.

In the end Inuyasha had been embroiled in some salacious scandal of his own. This one with not as happy a resolution as the one Sesshoumaru and Kagura had found themselves in. Inuyasha's wife Kikyou who had suffered from depression for a long time had committed suicide and tried and failed to kill her husband. Contrary to Kagura the human had not been well versed in all the ways to kill a hanyou. The poison she had hidden in their drinks had killed her almost instantly but had only incapacitated her husband. For hours, that felt to him more like centuries, Inuyasha had been pinned in place paralyzed next to Kikyou's cooling corpse. He had been powerless to save her life. It had taken him a long time to recover from the trauma, and for years the hanyou was barely hanging on, managing the law firm had of course been out of the question.

Inuyasha had now recovered and in what his brother and sister-in law considered to be a strange twist the hanyou was now dating a young human named Kagome, the cousin of his deceased wife who happened to bear a strong resemblance to Kikyou.

While Inuyasha was reeling from his wife's suicide and attempted murder, and their father was tending to the ailing Izayoi, Sesshoumaru had had no choice but to step up to keep the law firm afloat. The other directors had pressured Touga in letting his eldest son have the reigns. Spitefully, Sesshoumaru had considered refusing his father's offer to take over the firm as he wanted to be no one's second choice. It was his wife's prompting that pushed him to look past his feelings of being unwanted and take the job he had always longed for. The job she knew he deserved and would excel at. Kagura had just announced to him that she was pregnant with their second child and he had been so over the moon that he could not have refused her anything at the time. Not that he usually could. The woman knew how to play him like a fiddle.

He had thought she would be a weakness but the wind sorceress had been an inspiration of resilience and a source of strength. The way she had battled and overcome violence, pain and adversity humbled him and inspired him every day. With her support he had taken the firm to its best results. He had done so well that his father had had to grudgingly accept that Kagura and their children were good for his eldest son.

"Since Momo is feeling better, we can take the kids out for lunch tomorrow and make a family outing out of it." Sesshoumaru suggested. The stomach upset that had plagued their daughter had been the reason for his insomnia. He tended to be overprotective of his family.

"Great they'll love it. We can try that Bhutanese restaurant I told you about then go to the movies to watch that dumb animated puppet movie Momo and Gin have been wanting to watch for weeks."

The past years had done wonders for Kagura. She had regained her confidence and daredevil side. Long gone was the boring sedan Naraku had picked for her. She had bought herself a beautiful red convertible that to Sesshoumaru's concern she loved speeding around town in. At his suggestion she had purchased a matching fiery red van to drive the kids around. She shared the day-to-day operations of the real estate company and the foundation with her sister Kanna, leaving her some time to be with the kids and enroll in college classes. She was currently studying about geography to prepare for their travels. Each year, Sesshoumaru and she took a couple weeks off of work and they packed up their family to go on a trip. Kagura had the ambition of fulfilling her childhood dream of traveling the world. The kids being so young made the logistics of their yearly trips taxing, but Kagura was in no hurry, she knew she and Sesshoumaru had long years together ahead of them. More than enough time to travel all corners of the earth.

"Hum, talking about eating, I'm suddenly craving something delicious." She smiled at her husband, her eyes suddenly burning in intensity.

He ran an appreciative hand down the length of her body covered in a silky silver nightgown, appreciating her curves and paying close attention to her swollen breasts and rounded belly.

"You are insatiable." He growled appreciatively. He just loved the effect of pregnancy hormones on her.

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet." Her saucy reply caused a shiver of anticipated pleasure to run down his spine. She took him by the hand and dragged him back to their bed. They only had a few hours until the kids woke up and she intended to make full use of every single minute.

Sesshoumaru found himself following after her without any reservations. His thoughts about their past, his regrets, her pain, all was forgotten in this moment. All that mattered was Kagura and their family. Years ago he had elaborated a rigid plan to reach the goals he had set for himself, but it had taken a winding road full of bumps to get to where he belonged: the head of the family business, a father, and the husband to the most infuriating woman he had ever met in his life. He knew that with Kagura by his side he would spend the rest of his days drafting new plans for their happiness.

THE END

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this short story. I know many of your were freaking out, but see they got their happy ending. Kagura is a warrior no way was I going to let Naraku murder her (at least not in my fanfiction) ;) Leave a review, I'm curious to see what you thought. I don't know when I will publish another fanfic, but stay tuned as I know I'm not quite done with Sesshoumaru/Kagura stories.

Happy Sess/Kagu weekend to all and stay safe!