[AN: This is going to be an InuTaisho/Kagome fic. Don't like, don't read, don't flame.]

Disclaimer: I do not own "Inuyasha" or any of the characters therein. It is not my intention, deliberate or otherwise, to claim otherwise.

Thoughts in italics

To Love a Demon

Chapter 1 – The Shrine of the Four Souls

"SIT!" Kagome's frantic scream ripped through the mountain air, the desperation clear in her voice. Her uniform, torn and bloodied beyond recognition, swirled with her power. Inuyasha crashed into the ground a second before her sacred arrow pierced through the barrier of miasma above his head instantly purifying the incarnation blocking their way to Naraku.

"DRAGON STRIKE!" Sesshomaru took advantage of Inuyasha's spell bound body to add his power to Kagome's attack that continued on through the battlefield toward Naraku's heart.

"DANCE OF BLADES!" Kagura repelled the attack right back at Kagome. Eyes glinting, she threw herself at Kanna, pulling her away from the babe that held Naraku's heart as Inuyasha regained his footing.

"BACKLASH WAVE!" Inuyasha spun his body pouring everything he had into his counterattack. Naraku, seeing the danger, threw himself in front of his human heart in a futile attempt to save himself. In a single moment, the battlefield was engulfed in the light of the four attacks, spiraling in a myriad of colors

" '…In an instant, the greatest threat to both demonkind and humankind was destroyed. The Jewel of Four Souls, created from the power of three great demons and the great priestess Midoriko, was undone by the four powers of the same combined. The Wind Witch. The Lord of the Western Lands. The Half Demon. The Priestess of Time. Demonic power and holy power brought to bear in harmony. A battle erased from history by demons and humans alike for fear that the golden alliance that formed after the battle, would one day come again. And the pain of its loss would also come once more. The loss of the sweet Priestess…' This is the passage from the only scroll that was uncovered at the Shrine of the Four Souls after the quakes caused by the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima uncovered a secret chamber. No other documents were ever found to lend any credence that this event actually took place though there are some leading archeologists that believe that this epic battle actually happened." Kagome listened to her professor with half an ear before she realized just what battle he was describing. A blush rushed to her cheeks at the thought that some one had actually recorded the events of their final battle with Naraku.

'Oh, man. Wait until Sesshomaru finds out.' Kagome nearly groaned out loud at the thought. Miroku and Sango had wanted to record their travels for reference in training the next generation of demon slayers now that the Slayers' Village was being rebuilt. It turned out, after the battle that Naraku, while having murdered most of the Slayers', had actually been unable to seek out the few Slayers' that had been away at the time of the attack. So, while there were very few that remained, there were more than enough left to resettle the village.

Unfortunately for them, Sesshomaru had, in no uncertain terms, demanded that no record ever be made of Naraku's almost conquest. He did not want another human, demon or hanyou repeating said conquest.

'At least the Jewel is gone. One less thing for us to worry about.' The bell to end class rang and Kagome quickly gathered her books and started for the door. I was her last year in high school and, by some miracle, Kagome had managed to finish her previous years with honors. Heading for the entrance, she noticed that Yuka had managed to wrangle Hojo away from the science lab. Having given up on trying to date Kagome and now happily seeing Yuka on a regular basis, the poor boy was insistent that he was going to help cure Kagome of her various and vast repertoire of illnesses. He claimed he wasn't going to let anyone suffer if he could help it.

Kagome chuckled at the memory of the first time she had to endure Hojo's home remedies. She had just returned from their last battle with Naraku. She had taken a bath and replaced her multiple bandages while her mother and grandfather were with Souta at his last soccer game of the season when someone knocked at the door. So, with no one else at home, Kagome had stumbled her way to the front door to find Hojo and Yuka on her doorstep.

The look of horror on Hojo and Yuka's faces had been priceless. Kagome didn't know what sickness her grandfather had made up this time but it was obvious that they hadn't expected Kagome to look so bad, or perhaps they were surprised that her family had left her alone in such a condition. Either way, Hojo had swept Kagome into his arms, yes, meek sweet Hojo had snatched her from the ground, and rushed her to her room, scolding her for being out of bed. Immediately upon putting her down he rushed right back out to the kitchen to prepare his cure.

Yuka had, of course, gone straight to the telephone to call Ayumi and Eri to report that Kagome was in desperate need of aid and that her family had abandoned her. That said, Kagome had had an audience for her first tasting of Hojo's cure for pancreatic dysfunction, grandpa's favorite excuse. She had then spent the next two days delirious with fever and throwing up at the slightest hint of tomato paste. Just thinking about it still made her slightly queasy. Her mother had forbidden her grandfather from ever using pancreatic dysfunction as an excuse again. She wondered what excuse her grandfather would be giving when he called the school tomorrow.

Shrugging her shoulders, Kagome put her shoes on and headed for home, telling her friends she wasn't feeling well and would see them later.

After gathering her supplies, Kagome pulled her considerably smaller yellow backpack on her shoulders and made her way to the Bone Eaters' Well. She had taken to leaving her camping gear at Kaede's when she returned to the future; it made the trip so much easier. Sighing at the list of things yet to be done today, she jumped once more into the Bone Eaters' Well. It was time to change the past…again.

"Oi, Kagome." Inuyasha helped her from the well and out into the field.

"Hello, Inuyasha." Kagome smiled at the hanyou. Inuyasha's silver hair swayed in the breeze as his golden eyes twinkled merrily at her despite the exasperation in his voice.

"Kikyo wants to know if you want to spend the night with us before you start out for the Slayers' Village." Inuyasha sighed as if he had been asked to take care of Shippo and Rin for a week.

Kagome laughed at his fake pout. Surprisingly, when Naraku had been destroyed, Kikyo had been returned to life as a flesh and blood human woman. Kikyo's death had been one of Narakus' curses and, with Naraku's demise, the curse had been broken. It had also turned out that any death caused by Naraku's hand…er, tentacles… was being mended. Another reason that the Slayers' Village still had so many warriors. Those that had been killed by Naraku himself were restored to life. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to apply to any of his incarnations.

Kikyo had also turned out to be a great deal like Kagome's mother and the two had become fast friends. Kagome had realized long ago that her feelings toward Inuyasha were more familial in nature and was overjoyed for both Kikyo and Inuyasha when they had mated. They were expecting their first baby in the spring, which was why Kikyo had sent Inuyasha instead of coming herself. She was one of the poor few women that were sick all of the time.

"I can stop in and say hi but I need to get to the Western Lands before dark." Kagome fell in step beside Inuyasha as they set out for Edo. "Sesshomaru asked me to keep an eye out for anything unusual that might have changed in the future since our battle with Naraku and I have some information that he's going to want to know as soon as possible." Kagome held her notebook with the to copy of the passage they had been studying in school out to Iunyasha.

Inuyasha's eyes widen when he came to the Priestess of Time. "Yeah, Sesshomaru is definitely gonna want to know about this." The fact that the Bone Eaters' Well still allowed Kagome to pass between the eras and the fact that Kikyo and Kagome actually didn't share a soul had proven that Kagome was not the Priestess of the Four Souls as they had originally thought. Sesshomaru, after having settled his disagreements with Inuyasha (i.e. beating Inuyasha bloody), had been told of all Kagome travels and had immediately referred to her as the Priestess of Time. Sesshomaru was also the one to prove that Kagome and Kikyo did not share a soul. He had used Tenseiga to pull both of their souls slightly from their bodies, pointing out that while similar in feel and color, Kagome's soul was pinker and crisper in feeling than the lavender color and heavier syrup feel of Kikyo's.

Inuyasha made a comment on that not proving anything and Sesshomaru offered to pull the souls from all of the villagers in Edo to prove his point. No one questioned his authority on the matter again.

"Any news from Kouga?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha turned to look at the mountains in the far east as they broke the tree line around the rice paddies. "He isn't forgiving Kagura but he is renouncing the death sentence since she didn't have a choice about killing his pack. Kanna is beginning to wear him down though. Who would have thought that she was actually kind of cute under that creepy blank exterior?" Inuyasha shuddered.

Kagome smiled. "I take it Ginta isn't having any problems getting the pack to accept her then?" After the battle with Naraku, Kanna had spent a great deal of time with Ginta and Hakkaku while Kagura and Kouga had continued to wage war on each other. Ginta had then shocked Kouga and Kagura into a standstill by declaring that he was going to make her his mate within the next two moon cycles and they had that long to settle their differences since it would upset Kanna for either to die. The ethereal spirit demon had blushed before asking Kagura to be her blood witness. "I still can't believe that she's going to be a whole new breed of demon. Of course, I didn't know that the blood ritual between mates could change the girl into something else either."

Inuyasha shrugged. "Most demons don't bother with the blood rituals anymore since they don't depend on mates being the same kind of demon. It's mostly to ensure that any offspring from the union turns out full blooded instead of half breeds."

Kagome thought about that for a minute. "So, if the blood ritual changes the female mate to ensure pure blooded children, why don't demons do that with their human mates? Especially since they know that their children will be scorned otherwise." Inuyasha had explained the blood ritual to Kagome but hadn't had a chance to elaborate since Kouga suddenly appeared in front of Kagome to declare once more his undying love in a ploy to make Inuyasha mad. As always, it worked.

Inuyasha sighed again, this time in resignation. "When a demon mates a human, their children will always turn out half. Half demon, half human, no matter the species. With the blood ritual, the female demon is changed into a completely different creature, one capable of birthing full blooded offspring by combining her life force and youki with that of her mates. Human women don't have any power to speak of unless they are mikos or monks. Because of that, they don't have any way to handle the youki that floods their systems. It will either drive them insane or kill them. Even if they do survive and don't go insane, any children that they have will be vicious creatures that have no care for life, demon or human. And they always kill the mother at birth, usually by eating their way out of her stomach. We don't know if it would be any different with spiritual power since there has never been a demon/miko or demoness/monk mating. Just that it's better for demons and humans to mate without the blood ritual. Safer for both parties involved."

Kagome nodded in understanding before turning back to the road. Kikyo was waiting outside Kaede's hut for them. "Good afternoon, Kagome. I trust you had a safe trip to the future?" Kikyo drew Kagome into a hug that she happily returned.

"Yeah, no problems." Kagome smiled as she drew back from the hug. "I can't stay though. I found a record of our battle with Naraku in the future and I'm more than sure that Sesshomaru will want to know as soon as I can find him."

Kikyo nodded in acknowledgment. "I understand. Do you have any idea who could have written it?"

"No," Kagome shook her head. "Only that it was discovered after a catastrophe that laid waste to an entire city in the future and that it was from a temple called the Shrine of Four Souls. Though I've never heard of there being such a shrine before. Have you?"

Kikyo shook her head as well. "I know of no such place. The Slayers' Village was the home of Midoriko and the Jewel of Four Souls only stayed here after it was taken from them. Not even Naraku kept it in one place for too long and no one would have known if he did. Truly a puzzle."

Kagome agreed silently and turned to Inuyasha. "Feh, I don't like where this is going Kagome. Did you think to find out where this shrine was before you came back? We can go see about it after you talk to Sesshomaru."

Kagome chewed on her lip for a minuet. "That's the thing Inuyasha. The Shrine of the Four Souls is located to the North West inside the border of the forbidden territory. It says that it's built on your father's burial shrine." Inuyasha jerked back from Kagome in surprise.

"What?" Inuyasha whispered in disbelief.

"It gets worse, Inuyasha. They say that it was built before the winters of great plague." Kagome stared into his eyes. "Inuyasha, it was built just after I shattered the Jewel."

Inuyasha's eyes hardened. "After Myoga and Sesshomaru left the forbidden territory."

[AN: Yay, Chapter 1 edited! Reviews are welcome!]