Meddling Fathers by Kizzy

Bad Day Gone Worse

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Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha I would be rich and famous. As it is I am poor and work a crappy part-time job, and I am currently using an anonymous online name that reminds me slightly of a jelly fish for no obvious reason. Hear that? Get it? Inuyasha does not belong to me.

That being said I really think that we should get on with it... Sesshomaru would you like to do the honours?

Sesshomaru: No.

NeonChan: Oh... Kagome?

Kagome: Sure! Everyone please enjoy this first chapter that Neon Chandelier had to work on for hours and hours. Please forgive her for almost killing me before I got my happy ending and for making fun of all of the cast and for.... Where was I going with this again?

NeonChan: Inuyasha? [hopeful]

Inuyasha: Keh. Don't forget to review and tell us what you think. Enjoy the story.

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Chapter 1: Stupid Little Miko

Sometimes the system goes on the brink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong

-Bad Day, Daniel Powter

Kagome never had been the smartest of mikos. She was young and untrained, not to mention completely unaccustomed to life in the feudal era, as a priestess or otherwise. That being said she had no idea how to handle the mess that she had somehow gotten herself into.

'Really, how much stupider could I get?' She halted her long and troubled strides and flopped to the ground before a tree, rubbing her sore feet vigorously. 'First I go home for a test on a subject that I completely forgot I dropped last semester. Then I find out that I missed the real test I was supposed to take, and the teacher gives me a make-up test twice as hard as the original.' She peered down at her bedraggled feet. How did one manage to mangle their middle toe to such an extent? 'So I flunk that test, lowering my grades to the point where I am eligible to win multiple spots in the Guinness Book of World Records, including "Most diseases to ever be contracted by one person under the age of 152", and "Lowest grades achieved by a high school student of Japan since 1953." Heck, if she continued time travelling as she had been, she could probably be that student too!

Kagome groaned in agony as she tried to stand and hobble down the path a bit more, her shoes still firmly held in her right hand. 'I come back to find Inuyasha furious because a strange demon with shards was sniffing around the well, and he, of course, had to be all accusing and insulting to the point where said demon beat him to a pulp. So what does he do, but drag us halfway across the entire country in one day, driving us like a herd of cattle.' They had been almost to the Western border when she suddenly realized she had left her socks in her time, having worn flip flops while she was home and forgotten about them. She had decided to walk home and get them herself when he had refused to take her. Now she was wishing she hadn't, and she was really wishing for a pair of socks.

"Arrrrg!" The angry voice echoed eerily around the empty forest she was standing in. It was much too quiet in here for the miko's taste, and full of fury and impatience she drew her hand as far back as she could behind her body and flung her arm forwards as if she were playing baseball with her brother, letting her shoes fly, arcing high in the air before landing far into the jungle-like forest with nothing but a soft rustling noise.

And now she had to go look for them, alone, while the sun was setting.

Kagome hung her head, thoroughly dejected and feeling like the biggest idiot in the universe. She highly doubted that a trained, confident miko like her incarnation Kikyou would ever do something so brash and stupid. Come to think of it, neither would Sango, or Miroku, or, in fact, anyone over ten short of Inuyasha. 'Man, now I'm even starting to act like him!'

At least it wasn't raining yet, though one look at the impending clouds approaching the sky above her told her it soon would. She really hoped that her beloved protector would come for her soon. Kagome padded softly through through the quiet brush. There was no sound of animals chattering or scavenging for food. The breeze that had been stirring through the forest path had stilled and refused to be found anywhere as she ventured deeper and deeper into the unknown. The red-tinged leaves and moss told her that the sun was setting behind her, and the gleaming red and dark shadows starting to develop were freaking her out a bit. While she was most certainly glad that nothing had come to eat her yet, she was beyond wary at the silence engulfing her and reached for her bow and arrows... only to realize she had lost them. In reality they sat right where she had left them before she had gone into the woods. She had had her shoes in her hand then and had completely forgotten them. They were now left in a rather large and unruly heap, certainly not something you would want to step on on your way down the trail, what with the many arrow shafts pointing out in every imaginable direction.

Growing more uncomfortable by the second and knowing that the sun would sink below the horizon before she even had the chance to escape, the miko subsided and dropped to her hands and knees on the ground, backtracking. She had been wandering around for a while now and she couldn't risk staying the night in the silent brush. There was no way she could sleep while tense and unarmed, besides, she snored. That was bound to attract unwanted attention.

She had probably already passed them on her way anyway. There was no way she could have thrown them that far, regardless of how angry she was, she was still a human. The recycled green was probably causing them to blend in with the ground. 'Save the Earth my ass!' She was seething now, as her fear melted away. '"It will help waste fewer materials, reusing the ones we already have! We can help the children in Africa! We can stop global Warming! The funds will go to the Help the Seals foundation!" Who didn't like seals? The idea of camouflage had seemed so great at the time! And why go to all of the trouble of saving the Earth five hundred years in the past if it was just going to come to an end after she got back to the modern era anyway?

It was high time to give up and go back to the relative safety of the path. There were birds chirping there, and crickets playing their night time melodies. Her shoes weren't broken in yet anyway. Thus the various blisters on her feet, and she was sure that her mother would buy her a new pair of something more comfortable when she got home.

She began retreating to the bushes to her right, then paused. Hadn't she come around that boulder? Come to think of it, She was certain that she had passed the oak tree to her left. She could distinctly remember trailing around it in a circle, her hands on the rough bark. But then, she knew that she had gotten a spider in her hair while going through the bushes, and she was positive she had fallen off of the boulder when she glanced over her shoulder to get a good look at the sky. The poison berry bush further along looked familiar too. Oh, kami. Now she lost.

After a rousing game of Eenie Meenie Miny Moe, Kagome reluctantly found herself moving in the direction of the oak tree before feeling a soft tug from beyond the boulder. What was that? Was it instinct, or was it something else, something dangerous?

The winds gave one last gust of air to the West. This made up her mind. Obviously something was telling her to go there, though of what she was not yet sure. Maybe something needed her help. 'Or maybe something wants to eat me for dinner.' She was distracted from her disturbing thoughts on just what would like a miko snack out in the middle of nowhere by the itchy feeling of bugs crawling along her skin under her uniform.

"EW!" She shuddered despite herself, causing the creepy crawlies to start moving faster, one slipping dangerously close to the edge of her bra. Apparently she had also forgotten her bug spray. 'Hmmm... I wonder if I could purify them off. I wonder if I had any power whatsoever if I could purify them all into little ashes that would disappear forever from my memories.' She felt something with lofty antennae glide through her hair. Nothing with that many legs should be anywhere near her.

When the sound of rushing water greeted her ears not too far in the distance, and her little hitchhikers made themselves more comfortable draping over the warmth of her skin she almost peeled off her clothes and began running like a madwoman toward it to wash them, along with the mud, grime, and leaves she had everywhere else off of her. Only the thought of an immature hanyou finding her prancing naked through the woods stopped her from shedding the garments where she stood and running toward her means of precious salvation. She would never hear the end of it if that happened, so she trudged wearily through the forest instead, stopping only when she caught sight of one of her shoes dangling from the tree branch only a few feet above her.

The shoe came down with ease and she smiled while trying to wedge it onto her foot without stopping her momentum toward the stream she could now almost see in the dim light. Hopping on her right foot, eyes glaring at it angrily, Kagome suddenly bumped into something hard, causing her to fall backwards onto her butt in the little clearing.

"Owww..."

"Miko." The command was issued in one word, but the order was still clear and she looked up at a sight she had truly hoped she would never have to see again.

Her eyes started at his boot-clad feet, running over the poofy white pants of the era, tracing along the spiky black armer she had just run into, and past the long silvery locks. All to look up into the golden eyes of a human-hating predator.

"Sesshomaru." Her words were no more than a whisper, but it was that that started the wind again, blowing cool, fresh air into the clearing and pushing their hair across their faces. She examined him again. He appeared slightly angry, and looking at the thing dangling by a red shoelace in his hand, she was willing to bet she wouldn't be making it home tonight. Because their, in his only hand, held barely by the edge of his razor-sharp claws, hung her single, missing sneaker.

"Explain."

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"Inuyasha's been gone a long time now, don't you think Miroku?" Sango and Miroku peered up from where their eyes rested on the blazing fire before them at Shippo's hesitant question.

The small kitsune's face was downcast, making it impossible to see his face, but the hint of worry in his voice told them exactly what he had been thinking.

Needing no more than to hear the little sniffle from her friend, Sango gathered the little kit up in her arms. She too was worried for their friend.

Catching the look in her eyes, Miroku quickly set to work trying to qualm her fears. Yes he liked children, and it was no secret that he loved women, this woman in particular (not that, he felt, she need to know that.), but that didn't mean that didn't mean that he was any more adept at handling tears than any other man. Though he was certain that the woman would not begin to cry, she had been raised to kill and fight demons after all, tears would easily be seen as a weakness, he was not certain what he would do if Inuyasha did not return with Kagome soon. It would be a long night if he didn't.

The worry was palpable in the air, and it would only get worse as the night would wear on.

"Why didn't any of us think to go with her?" Sango groaned, burying her face in her hands. Kagome may have supported her emotionally, but Sango felt that she -or someone in their group, usually Inuyasha- should be there to protect Kagome physically. In reality she knew that Kagome should have been taught to defend herself properly ages ago, but she was scared that she wouldn't be able to handle it, or she wouldn't need their help anymore and leave them. She knew that her fears were unfounded and that Kagome was strong and capable, and that she would never abandon the people she loved, but somewhere inside of her the fear refused to leave. It had clung to her so tightly that she couldn't breath, so she had made excuses to herself. Kagome was good with her bow and arrows, and her spiritual power would come up and defend her if she were in a desperate enough situation. Besides, there wasn't time and she didn't need to learn to fight anyway, that's what her friends were there for. Now she was really regretting it though. She was just being selfish and she resolved to help Kagome learn to protect herself as soon as she got back. She would make time for it, no matter what. 'At least the basics.' She thought. 'Once she knows at least the basics I will leave her alone about it.'

She was brought back into the conversation when Shippou answered her question, seeming to have thought carefully about his response. "Because she's scarier than Naraku when she's angry."

"Shippou!" Sango exclaimed. Even if it was true, he didn't have to say it like that.

"Maybe even scarier than Sesshomaru." Miroku added thoughtfully.

"...Nah."

They met each others eyes before breaking into laughter. The tension in the air immediately dissipated, and they were all relieved.

Once the laughter had died down they settled into an easy silence. "Let's just wait until Inuyasha brings her-"

"Isn't that one of Kikyou's soul collectors?" Shippou cut into the monk's decision.

"You don't think he would have...?" The monk trailed off when he noticed Sango fully up and dressed in her slayer outfit, Kirara was transformed by her side and looked ready for some action.

"All I know," Sango growled, "Is that Kagome had better be OK when we find her. Come on!"

The group took to the night, pausing only to douse the fire and collect the essential items that they could not leave behind. If there wasn't a problem then they could come back for anything that remained later on. Sango's cursing was the only thing that they could hear for miles, and finally, they began running when Kirara picked up Kagome's scent.

Nothing would happen to their friend, they would make sure of it, and if Inuyasha had indeed abandoned her for Kikyou once again, there would be hell to pay. From Sango at least.

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Inuyasha was running quickly through the forest. His feet would barely touch the ground before he would launch himself up again, springing forward a good eleven feet before the process was repeated. His heart hammered in his chest and his undead ex-lover hung limply in his arms.

Initially he had gone after Kagome when the smell of his friends' worry had begun to settle in their camp. In truth he was worried for her as well, and when his companions had begun to scold him fiercely for being such an idiot as to drive off their favourite miko yet again, he had left to search for her on his own.

He was getting anxious too, being away from her and unsure of her whereabouts was always stressful. Knowing Kagome she had probably been kidnapped again and was sitting in a prison somewhere to be eaten, or used as a sacrifice for some stupid ritual. She could have already walked straight into Naraku's castle looking for a place to stay for kami's sake! The jewel shards alone were enough to ensure that she would probably be attacked by at least a few low level oni before the night was over.

He was berating himself for the thousandth time when the stench of human blood had hit his nose abruptly. It was only a few hours old and he paused for a moment to listen for anything in the darkness. He instantly recognized the second scent, one of grave yard soil and flowers. Kikyou was there too!

He sprung around instantly and went down the path to the nearby village with haste, praying for her to be unharmed. Even she could only outwit death so many times.

Kagome, he was sure, would not be happy with him when she found out what he had done, but then, wouldn't she be angrier if he simply left an entire village full of people to die?

When he had stopped at the edge of the trees to survey the destroyed village he had felt his heart catch in his throat. The scene that had met him, while not uncommon in the era, was gruesome. Human skeletons littered the ground. They were covered in a slimy green substance much familiar to snot or mucus, and smelling much like dead fish. The ground and buildings were on fire and there appeared to not be a single living creature in the vicinity.

Inuyasha flinched when he stepped on a sticky skull. Though still in one piece, it looked hideous. The only things that remained were it's eyes -a dull and lifeless blue, and it's long black tongue. It had been sucked clean of all flesh and hair, though the fear on it's face was still very evident of the terrifying death that had occurred.

Inuyasha guessed that the destruction had been caused by a grouping of slug demons. They ate everything and everyone, even each other at times, and were as elusive as Naraku when it came to trying to hunt them down.

He continued to walk to where he could see Kikyou lying on the ground. She almost looked dead, but she was still breathing slowly. Behind her were the smaller bones of the young. She had been trying to protect the children, but she had obviously failed.

Inuyasha's heart was full of sympathy he lifted her to his chest and walked back to the forest. There was no reason to stay, or to track down the demons. He still had to find Kagome and, if possible, get help for Kikyou.

He was still in a foul mood, but he cradled Kikyou to his chest as gently as one might a newborn babe. He and Kagome had had yet another fight earlier that day. It seemed like anything could set the two of them off nowadays. They hung precariously on the edge, and in reality Inuyasha felt horrible. It was eating away at him.

Kagome was the first person to accept him for who he was, no questions asked. She was the only one who would never ask him to change, and yet she couldn't even stand to be around him after a single year.

Had it really been a year already? It felt like just yesterday that he had awoken from his curse. Inuyasha had been pinned to a tree for fifty years with no conscious thought or activity. Only nightmares and taunting dreams had followed him, constantly tormenting him.

He had never bothered hoping or wishing for a saviour. The only one who could have released him from his imprisonment was the one who had cursed him to begin with.

And then to have awoken to see her face anyway. Yes, he was certain that it was his sweet Kikyo's face that had greeted him upon his unlikely awakening. She was the only one he had ever loved, the only one that he felt had even an inkling of understanding about how it felt like to be misunderstood or inadequate or even just... different. They both stood separated from the crowd, even if they were on opposite sides. They were both so sure that it could work.

The illusion of happiness and belonging had been all he had ever truly wanted, and he had been so willing to give everything up for her. His wishes, his desires, his dreams, and his future all became her. She was what he wanted. She was what he saw when he closed his eyes. She was everything. All of this had shattered though, as they had known deep down that it would, along with all of his compassion and feeling. The only thing that he had been able to see at the time was her betrayal.

Inuyasha had been pinned to a tree for fifty frickin' years for crying out loud! And to have woken up to her face bent before him upon his awakening, panting as though she had run a marathon and obviously fearful of something had filled him with a surge of hope and protectiveness he wasn't supposed to feel anymore.

Did she need his help again? His protection? Did she regret her actions? Did she still love him? Had she ever loved him? These questions spurred his anger. He shouldn't care anymore! He refused to care! Yet despite these thoughts, nothing had been able to stop him from drinking in the sight of the girl before him. Her soft curves, and long raven locks of hair trailing down her back. He longed to be able to see her familiar brown eyes and to feel her soft sweet lips. He squashed the impulse to comfort her; he had been nothing more than a toy to her, a means to the end of the Shikon jewel to save herself. The girl before him had betrayed him just like everyone else in his life and he couldn't forgive her, not now, not ever.

How was he to know that fifty years had passed while he was asleep? How was he to know that the real Kikyou was dead, killed the same day she cast her curse on him, and that this beautiful young girl who stood before him now was not his ex-love, but her reincarnation?

As soon as he had been told he had been filled with grief that he knew he shouldn't feel. He wanted nothing more to do with Kikyou, and he certainly wanted nothing to do with her likeness Kagome either. But she had the jewl now and he hadn't gone through that hell for nothing.

So he had decided to stay, and slowly he had begun to realize that despite her appearance, Kagome was nothing like Kikyou. This made it slightly easier to be around her, and soon he was in love with her too.

Kagome was beautiful inside and out, he had noticed immediately. She loved everyone she met equally. She defended those she cared for with a fierceness he didn't believe anyone capable of, regardless of the amount of harm or injury she would be likely to sustain. It would usually work out too, and if it didn't she would cry, but still manage to be chipper and bright for everyone else the next day anyway. She was amazing, and undeniable, and beautiful.

He sighed as he felt Kikyou shift in his arms, his breath on her forehead lifting her bangs from her closed eyelids and drawing a smile to his lips. Kagome was a wonderful person, she understood him and had given him everything that he had ever wanted. Yet despite how much she dulled his pain and made him smile, she couldn't complete him like Kikyou did.

Kagome didn't need him either. Oh, she thought she did, and he knew that he would always need her, but she was strong, and she had many people to love her and cherish her. Eventually he would have to leave her to go to Hell with Kikyou, regardless of how he knew his heart would ache and burn when he left her. He didn't want to leave, but leave he must, and when until that time came he would protect her and love her and hope that maybe s he could change his mind.

'Protect her.'

He sped up as her familiar scent drew nearer, and began to panic when he smelled another.

Sesshomaru and... Kagome's blood!

It didn't take long before he had reached the edge of the trail where her scent veered off and prayed to God that he wasn't too late.

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The air stilled and Kagome closed her eyes, willing this to all be a dream. There was no way that she had just thrown a shoe at Sesshomaru, no way. Never. Her luck was horrible, but even it had to have it's limits. At least she was hoping that it did.

Taking a deep breath she opened her eyes slowly, expecting the apparation before her to be gone. Her brown eyes took in the scene surrounding her, her breath catching in her throat as she caught sight of Sesshomaru again, still standing before her and definitely very real.

His eyes were so clear and perfect in the darkness that they almost looked painted on. His remaining hand was still outstretched, her sneaker still hanging limply from his clawed fingers. It looked so insignificant and out of place compared to him. For a second the thought of him in a magazine ad for the shoe company came to her mind. She almost giggled at the thought of the demon lord endorsing womens shoes. She would have burst out into laughter if she wasn't sure that he would gut her for it.

"Miko." His voice was the only sound besides the erratic beating of her heart, which she was positive he could hear. "You will explain." His voice held the promise of death and even as fear stricken as she was Kagome knew that he expected an answer.

"U-um, w-well, you see... That's a shoe." Kagome could have smacked herself for that one. 'That's a shoe'? Now he would kill her for sure! 'My family will never even get my remains! I'll just be a big puddle of goop!'

"Who's shoe, miko?"

"W-well mine, but-"

"And why, miko, did your shoe come flying into my camp?" His tone clearly stated that he would not hold out for any poor excuses that she could make.

Kagome swallowed, trying to think of how best to answer that question without making him any angrier than he probably already was. Her throat felt as though it was caked with dry mud.

"I'm waiting."

"I threw it?" Oh-no. Back it up! That was definitely not the right thing to say.

"Is that so?" Sesshomaru definitely wasn't impressed.

"Sorry?" she squeaked. Once again, her answer had come out as a question and though she had been hoping that it would suffice as a good enough answer for him to leave her alone, hopefully leaving her shoe as well, it only seemed to make him angrier.

In the next second that she took to blink she was up against the nearest tree. Sesshomaru's hand was wrapped tightly around her throat and blood was beginning to well at the spots where his claws pricked at her skin. He was less than three feet from her now, and this was definitely the closest that Kagome had ever been to the daiyoukai. His eyes were open, smooth, and a shade of gold so rich that Kagome hadn't even known it existed. His eyelashes were thick and dark, despite the silvery shade of his hair and his breath smelled of a pleasant scent she couldn't quite identify. His breathing blew across her face and made her blush. Overall he was beautiful in everyway, and Kagome mourned that the only time she would ever get to see him so clearly was now, when he was slowly killing her.

Her breathing burned in her throat like it was on fire, and still she was forced to gasp for air as his hand tightened around her neck to the point where she was sure it would snap, shattering into a million tiny pieces under his impressive strength.

"And why, miko, should I not kill you for almost knocking my ward into the water with your shoe?"

His ward? Oh yes, Rin! She had almost knocked Rin into the river? She paled noticeably as she pictured the little girl being pulled under the freezing water, of the strong current knocking her tiny form around like a rag doll. Sesshomaru's hand tightened around her neck, and he took her stricken looking face to be her answer.

"Luckily, your aim was off, or else she would not have fared as well as she did and I would have been forced to kill you here and now. As it stands, Jaken was thrown into the water in her place. He was not so lucky"

"I-s he OK?" Kagome was still gasping for air, and she saw spots as his hand impossibly tightened once again around her throat.

"He can swim."

The daiyoukai merely stood there for a moment and appraised her. He had been planning on throwing her into the water, definitely too cold for a human during the night, but as her eyes began to roll back into her head, he thought better of it.

"This Sesshomaru will allow you off with a warning this time. Be thankful that I smell the half-breed coming closer as we speak." He snarled once before dropping her at his knees and spinning on his heel to confront the approaching hanyou.

End Chapter Notes:

This is my first Inuyasha chapter story.  It is being posted on fanfiction.net where I currently have up to chapter three posted.  I can be found both their and on gaia as neonchandelier.  My profile can be found here:

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1619118/Neon_Chandelier.

Thank you, and please review.  I really think you should.  ;)